query dict | pos dict | neg dict |
|---|---|---|
{
"abstract": "Background:Animal experiments suggest that exposure to elevated levels of androgens during development by means of so-called hormonal programming causes metabolic aberrations at adulthood. An indirect strategy to address the possible importance of such an influence also in humans would be to study female dizygotic twins, presuming that those with a twin brother—due to diffusion of testosterone—have been exposed to higher androgen levels prenatally.Design:We have compared 8409 women with a male twin with 9166 women with a dizygotic female twin with respect to self-reported indices of anthropometry and metabolic aberrations at age 42 or older.Results:Body mass index (BMI), body weight and rate of dyslipidemia were moderately, but significantly, higher in women from opposite-sexed (OS) twin pairs; splitting for age revealed this difference to be present in those ⩾60 years of age only.Conclusion:The results (i) support the notion that comparisons of women with a twin brother with women from same-sexed twin pairs may be used to shed light on possible long-term effects of interindividual variations in early androgen exposure, and (ii) suggest that the effects of early androgen exposure on metabolism previously observed in animal experiments are of relevance also for humans.",
"corpus_id": 341409,
"title": "Influence of having a male twin on body mass index and risk for dyslipidemia in middle-aged and old women"
} | {
"abstract": "CONTEXT\nAlthough the sex difference in eating disorder prevalence has typically been attributed to psychosocial factors, biological factors may also play a role. Prenatal testosterone exposure is a promising candidate, since it masculinizes behavior in animals and humans via its permanent effects on the central nervous system.\n\n\nOBJECTIVE\nTo examine whether in utero testosterone exposure has masculinizing effects on disordered eating (DE) by comparing opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) twins. Twin type (SS vs OS) is considered a proxy measure of prenatal hormone exposure, since females from OS pairs are exposed to more testosterone in utero than females from SS pairs. A linear trend in mean levels of DE was predicted based on expected prenatal testosterone exposure, with SS female twins exhibiting the highest levels of DE followed by OS female twins, OS male twins, and SS male twins.\n\n\nDESIGN\nA twin study comparison of OS vs SS twins.\n\n\nSETTING\nMichigan State University Twin Registry.\n\n\nPARTICIPANTS\nParticipants included 304 SS female twins, 59 OS female twins, 54 OS male twins, and 165 SS male twins.\n\n\nMAIN OUTCOME MEASURE\nOverall levels of DE were assessed with the Minnesota Eating Behavior Survey.\n\n\nRESULTS\nConfirming hypotheses, DE exhibited significant linear trends, with SS female twins exhibiting the highest levels of DE followed by OS female twins, OS male twins, and SS male twins. This linear trend could not be accounted for by levels of anxiety or socialization effects. Indeed, OS female twins exhibited lower levels of DE compared with an independent sample of undergraduate women (n = 69) who were raised with 1 or more brothers.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe masculinization of DE in OS female twins is unlikely to be due to socialization effects alone. Biological factors, such as the masculinization of the central nervous system by prenatal testosterone exposure, may also contribute to sex differences in DE prevalence.",
"corpus_id": 17775435,
"title": "Prenatal hormone exposure and risk for eating disorders: a comparison of opposite-sex and same-sex twins."
} | {
"abstract": "Objectives: The objectives were to evaluate the shear bond strength (SBS) of fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) retainers when bonding them to teeth with and without covering the FRC bars using two different adhesive systems. Materials and Methods: Hundred and twenty extracted human maxillary premolars were randomly divided into eight groups (n = 15). FRC bars (4 mm length, Everstick Ortho®, Stick Tech, Oy, Turku, Finland) were bonded to the proximal (distal) surfaces of the teeth using two different adhesives (Tetric Flow [TF, Ivoclar Vivadent, Switzerland] and resin-modified glass ionomer cement [RMGIC, ODP, Vista, CA, USA]) with and without covering with the same adhesive. Specimens were exposed to thermocycling (625 cycles per day [5–55°C, intervals: 30 s] for 8 days). The SBS test was then performed using the universal testing machine (Zwick, GMBH, Ulm, Germany). After debonding, the remaining adhesive on the teeth was recorded by the adhesive remnant index (0–3). Results: The lowest mean SBS (standard deviation) was found in the TF group without covering with adhesive (12.6 [2.11] MPa), and the highest bond strength was in the TF group with covering with adhesive (16.01 [1.09] MPa). Overall, the uncovered RMGIC (15.65 [3.57] MPa) provided a higher SBS compared to the uncovered TF. Covering of FRC with TF led to a significant increase in SBS (P = 0.001), but this was not true for RMGIC (P = 0.807). Thermal cycling did not significantly change the SBS values (P = 0.537). Overall, eight groups were statistically different (ANOVA test, F = 3.32, P = 0.034), but no significant differences in bond failure locations were found between the groups (Fisher's exact tests, P = 0.92). Conclusions: The present findings showed no significant differences between SBS of FRC bars with and without covering by RMGIC. However, when using TF, there was a significant difference in SBS measurements between covering and noncovering groups. Therefore, the use of RMGIC without covering FRC bars can be suggested, which can be validated with in vivo studies.",
"corpus_id": 21440397,
"score": 1,
"title": "Covering of fiber-reinforced composite bars by adhesive materials, is it necessary to improve the bond strength of lingual retainers?"
} |
{
"abstract": "We propose an isometrically deforming cloth model for physics-based simulation, which works with a conforming triangle mesh yet doesn’t suffer from locking. This in itself is an important step forward for cloth animation, as many common materials essentially do not stretch, yet the only prior method capable of handling this regime used a non-conforming mesh which considerably complicated collision handling. We further introduce a general integration scheme for constrained dynamics with additional potential energy terms and frictional contact, all fully and implicitly coupled together rather than staggered in time. Shells with stiff bending forces greatly benefit from the simultaneous coupling. Moreover, we show that solving for one time step in this scheme can be transformed to solving a Newton sequence of unconstrained linear least-squares problems, resulting only in sparse, symmetric positive definite matrices which can be handled particularly efficiently.",
"corpus_id": 124490234,
"title": "Isometrically deforming cloth with simultaneous collision handling"
} | {
"abstract": "We present a new discretization for the physics-based animation of developable surfaces. Constrained to not deform at all in-plane but free to bend out-of-plane, these are an excellent approximation for many materials, including most cloth, paper, and stiffer materials. Unfortunately the conforming (geometrically continuous) discretizations used in graphics break down in this limit. Our nonconforming approach solves this problem, allowing us to simulate surfaces with zero in-plane deformation as a hard constraint. However, it produces discontinuous meshes, so we further couple this with a \"ghost\" conforming mesh for collision processing and rendering. We also propose a new second order accurate constrained mechanics time integration method that greatly reduces the numerical damping present in the usual first order methods used in graphics, for virtually no extra cost and sometimes significant speed-up.",
"corpus_id": 1563808,
"title": "Animating developable surfaces using nonconforming elements"
} | {
"abstract": "Clothing is a fundamental part of a character's persona, a key storytelling tool used to convey an intended impression to the audience. Draping, folding, wrinkling, stretching, etc. all convey meaning, and thus each is carefully controlled when filming live actors. When making films with computer simulated cloth, these subtle but important elements must be captured. In this paper we present several methods essential to matching the behavior and look of clothing worn by digital stand-ins to their real world counterparts. Novel contributions include a mixed explicit/implicit time integration scheme, a physically correct bending model with (potentially) nonzero rest angles for pre-shaping wrinkles, an interface forecasting technique that promotes the development of detail in contact regions, a post-processing method for treating cloth-character collisions that preserves folds and wrinkles, and a dynamic constraint mechanism that helps to control large scale folding. The common goal of all these techniques is to produce a cloth simulation with many folds and wrinkles improving the realism.",
"corpus_id": 6206151,
"score": -1,
"title": "Simulation of clothing with folds and wrinkles"
} |
{
"abstract": "Anthocyanins are natural bioactive pigments in plants that play important roles in many physiological functions. They are found in various tissues and can protect plants against different stress conditions. Anthocyanins are synthesized and accumulate in nutritional organs, which is crucial for plants to adapt to and resist adverse environmental conditions, including high exposure to light, ultraviolet light, low temperatures, drought, pests and disease. Some progress has been made in understanding the adaptability of anthocyanin to the external environment. Begonia semperflorens is an excellent model for studying the function and regulation of anthocyanin synthesis. To investigate the biosynthesis and regulation of anthocyanins, RNA sequencing techniques were employed to investigate anthocyanin biosynthesis induced by low temperature in B. semperflorens leaves. A total of 74,779 unigenes with a mean length of 1249 bp were assembled. Functional annotations were implemented using five protein databases. Differentially expressed genes involved in the process of anthocyanin biosynthesis were identified. This study represents the first report of a broad-scale gene expression study on B. semperflorens.",
"corpus_id": 5705052,
"title": "Transcriptome analysis reveals anthocyanin acts as a protectant in Begonia semperflorens under low temperature"
} | {
"abstract": "Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica L.) is a highly nutritious vegetable that typically forms pure green or purple florets. However, green broccoli florets sometimes accumulate slight purplish pigmentation in response environmental factors, decreasing their market value. In the present study, we aimed to develop molecular markers to distinguish broccoli genotypes as pure green or purplish floret color at the early seedling stage. Anthocyanins are known to be involved in the purple pigmentation in plants. The purplish broccoli lines were shown to accumulate purple pigmentation in the hypocotyls of very young seedlings; therefore, the expression profiles of the structural and regulatory genes of anthocyanin biosynthesis were analyzed in the hypocotyls using qRT-PCR. BoPAL, BoDFR, BoMYB114, BoTT8, BoMYC1.1, BoMYC1.2, and BoTTG1 were identified as putative candidate genes responsible for the purple hypocotyl color. BoTT8 was much more highly expressed in the purple than green hypocotyls; therefore, it was cloned and sequenced from various broccoli lines, revealing SNP and InDel variations between these genotypes. We tested four SNPs (G > A; A > T; G > C; T > G) in the first three exons and a 14-bp InDel (ATATTTATATATAT) in the BoTT8 promoter in 51 broccoli genotypes, and we found these genetic variations could distinguish the green lines, purple lines, and F1 hybrids. These novel molecular markers could be useful in broccoli breeding programs to develop a true green or purple broccoli cultivar.",
"corpus_id": 73509270,
"title": "Molecular analysis of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes reveal BoTT8 associated with purple hypocotyl of broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica L.)."
} | {
"abstract": "Europarties are regarded as multi-level organizations, like parties operating in federal or devolved states. Examined is whether they can even be treated as political parties sensu stricto and whether the concepts used to test the relations between the national and regional party structures (vertical integration, influence) could be used to study relationships between the national and European structures. It was indicated that Europarties can be considered both as the additional arenas of national parties’ activity and independent political actors consisted of national parties (multi-level parties). The second perspective was used to research 13 existing Europarties. In result, the similarities between the PES and PEL, but differences between the EPP and PES in term of vertical integration and influence were shown. Hence, in the article was proven that there is no one model of relations between the national and European party structures and the parties differ from each other as far as their internal structures are concerned.",
"corpus_id": 121194526,
"score": 0,
"title": "Are the Europarties Real Political Parties? National Parties’ Involvement in Multi-level Structures of European Political Parties"
} |
{
"abstract": "In this paper, we present extensive advances in live-fly field experimentation capabilities of large numbers of fixed-wing aerial robots, and highlight both the enabling technologies as well as the challenges addressed in such largescale flight operations. We showcase results from recent field tests, including the autonomous launch, flight, and landing of 50 UAVs, which illuminate numerous operational lessons learned and generate rich multi-UAV datasets. We detail the design and open architecture of the testbed, which intentionally leverages low-cost and open-source components, aimed at promoting continued advances and alignment of multi-robot systems research and practice.",
"corpus_id": 14834635,
"title": "Live-fly, large-scale field experimentation for large numbers of fixed-wing UAVs"
} | {
"abstract": "Swarm robotics is an approach to collective robotics that takes inspiration from the self-organized behaviors of social animals. Through simple rules and local interactions, swarm robotics aims at designing robust, scalable, and flexible collective behaviors for the coordination of large numbers of robots. In this paper, we analyze the literature from the point of view of swarm engineering: we focus mainly on ideas and concepts that contribute to the advancement of swarm robotics as an engineering field and that could be relevant to tackle real-world applications. Swarm engineering is an emerging discipline that aims at defining systematic and well founded procedures for modeling, designing, realizing, verifying, validating, operating, and maintaining a swarm robotics system. We propose two taxonomies: in the first taxonomy, we classify works that deal with design and analysis methods; in the second taxonomy, we classify works according to the collective behavior studied. We conclude with a discussion of the current limits of swarm robotics as an engineering discipline and with suggestions for future research directions.",
"corpus_id": 468992,
"title": "Swarm robotics: a review from the swarm engineering perspective"
} | {
"abstract": "in information security have all these while been concerned only with technical problems and efforts to improve information security have been software-centered or hardware-oriented. There have been limited attempts in addressing the people who use the computers though they are the greatest loophole in information systems security. This paper examines and addresses the threats end-users pose to systems security. Regardless of the countlessly introduced technological solutions aimed at addressing system vulnerabilities, the human factor is still of greater threat to systems security. The study draws its data from a survey conducted on people who frequently use information systems. Professional and technical inputs were also solicited from IT personnel through interviews. Four experiments were conducted to test the accuracy of the survey. A phony phish system was developed to test respondents\" information security consciousness. The goal of the phony phish system was to send phishing emails that can be used to measure the accuracy of the survey. The rest of the experiments were SQL injection, cross site scripting and brute force attack. The results from the study revealed that, the numerous technical advances in information technology do not always produce more secure environments. Thus, information security cannot be described as solely a technical problem. Computers are operated by people and this means that information security is also a human factor issue. It is therefore suggested, for information and data breaches to be curbed, organizations must adopt a holistic security framework, incorporating the human factor.",
"corpus_id": 30401291,
"score": -1,
"title": "Information system security threats and vulnerabilities: evaluating the human factor in data protection"
} |
{
"abstract": "Clostridial neurotoxins are zinc endopeptidases that block neurotransmission and have been shown to cleave, in vitro, specific proteins involved in synaptic vesicle docking and/or fusion. We have used immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting to demonstrate alterations in toxin substrates in intact neurons under conditions of toxin-induced blockade of neurotransmitter release. Vesicle-associated membrane protein, which co-localizes with synaptophysin, is not detectable in tetanus toxin-blocked cultures. Syntaxin, also concentrated in synaptic sites, is cleaved by botulinum neurotoxin C. Similarly, the carboxyl terminus of the synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25) is not detectable in botulinum neurotoxin A-treated cultures. Unexpectedly, tetanus toxin exposure causes an increase in SNAP-25 immunofluorescence, reflecting increased accessibility of antibodies to antigenic sites rather than increased expression of the protein. Furthermore, botulinum neurotoxin C causes a marked loss of the carboxyl terminus of SNAP-25 when the toxin is added to living cultures, whereas it has no action on SNAP-25 in in vitro preparations. This study is the first to demonstrate in functioning neurons that the physiologic response to these toxins is correlated with the proteolysis of their respective substrates. Furthermore, the data demonstrate that botulinum neurotoxin C, in addition to cleaving syntaxin, exerts a secondary effect on SNAP-25.",
"corpus_id": 1099218,
"title": "Clostridial Neurotoxins and Substrate Proteolysis in Intact Neurons"
} | {
"abstract": "When the presynaptic membrane protein syntaxin is coexpressed inXenopus oocytes with N- or P/Q-type Ca2+ channels, it promotes their inactivation (Bezprozvanny et al., 1995; Wiser et al., 1996, 1999; Degtiar et al., 2000) (I. B. Bezprozvanny, P. Zhong, R. H. Scheller, and R. W. Tsien, unpublished observations). These findings led to the hypothesis that syntaxin influences Ca2+channel function in presynaptic endings, in a reversal of the conventional flow of information from Ca2+ channels to the release machinery. We examined this effect in isolated mammalian nerve terminals (synaptosomes). Botulinum neurotoxin type C1 (BoNtC1), which cleaves syntaxin, was applied to rat neocortical synaptosomes at concentrations that completely blocked neurotransmitter release. This treatment altered the pattern of Ca2+ entry monitored with fura-2. Whereas the initial Ca2+ rise induced by depolarization with K+-rich solution was unchanged, late Ca2+ entry was strongly augmented by syntaxin cleavage. Similar results were obtained when Ca2+ influx arose from repetitive firing induced by the K+-channel blocker 4-aminopyridine. Cleavage of vesicle-associated membrane protein with BoNtD or SNAP-25 with BoNtE failed to produce a significant change in Ca2+ entry. The BoNtC1-induced alteration in Ca2+ signaling was specific to voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, not Ca2+ extrusion or buffering, and it involved N-, P/Q- and R-type channels, the high voltage-activated channels most intimately associated with presynaptic release machinery. The modulatory effect of syntaxin was not immediately manifest when synaptosomes had been K+-predepolarized in the absence of external Ca2+, but developed with a delay after admission of Ca2+, suggesting that vesicular turnover may be necessary to make syntaxin available for its stabilizing effect on Ca2+ channel inactivation.",
"corpus_id": 689391,
"title": "Syntaxin Modulation of Calcium Channels in Cortical Synaptosomes As Revealed by Botulinum Toxin C1"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The impact of industrial EE projects have previously been understated by the omission of non-energy benefits (NEBs). As a result, several fruitful projects have not been implemented which could have dire consequences for energy intensive industries, such as the mining industry. Typically, project feasibility is determined through financial evaluation techniques such as payback period, internal rate of return and return on investment. These techniques are limited to the monetisation of benefits, NEBs therefore, has to be quantified, monetised and included in these techniques. However, not all NEBs have direct costs, there are NEBs which affects productivity but the relationship cannot be empirically calculated. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a comprehensive financial model that can be used by energy advocates to quantify and monetise NEBs for EE projects in the mining industry.",
"corpus_id": 117318759,
"score": 0,
"title": "Financial model for energy efficiency projects in the mining industry"
} |
{
"abstract": "Graphene has received significant attention due to its excellent properties currently. In this work, a nano-optomechanical system based on a doubly-clamped Z-shaped graphene nanoribbon (GNR) with an optical pump-probe scheme is proposed. We theoretically demonstrate the phenomenon of phonon-induced transparency and show an optical transistor in the system. In addition, the significantly enhanced nonlinear effect of the probe laser is also investigated, and we further put forward a nonlinear optical mass sensing that may be immune to detection noises. Molecules, such as NH3 and NO2, can be identified via using the nonlinear optical spectroscopy, which may be applied to environmental pollutant monitoring and trace chemical detection.",
"corpus_id": 7717464,
"title": "Graphene-Based Nanoresonator with Applications in Optical Transistor and Mass Sensing"
} | {
"abstract": "In this study, the vibrational properties of single- and double-layer graphene sheets (GSs) with attached nanoparticles are analyzed based on the nonlocal elasticity theory. The potential applications of atomic-scale mass sensing are presented using GSs with simply supported boundary condition. The frequency equation for GSs with an attached nanoparticle is derived to investigate the vibration frequency of the GSs under thermal environment. Using the proposed model, the relationship between the frequency shifts of graphene-based mass sensor and the attached nanoparticles is obtained. The nonlocal effect and the temperature dependence on the variation of frequency shifts with the attached nanomass and the positions on the GS are investigated and discussed in detail. The obtained results show that the nanomass can be easily detected by using GS resonator which provides a highly sensitive nanomechanical element in sensor systems. The vibrational frequency shift of GS increases with increasing the temperature dependence. The double-layer GSs (DLGSs) have higher sensitivity than the single-layer GSs (SLGSs) due to high frequency shifts.",
"corpus_id": 17144548,
"title": "Influence of Temperature on Vibrational Frequency of Graphene Sheet Used as Nano-Scale Sensing"
} | {
"abstract": "To detect the linkage between single markers of microsatellite type and mastitis incidence in Egyptian buffalo three markers (BM1258, BM1443 and BM1818) and one hundred twenty-three lactating animals were used. The selected animals were tested using Modified White Side Test (MWT) to screen animals for mastitis. Non-denatured polyacrylamide gel was used to determine the sizes of the PCR amplified products using reference animal to verify the allelic sizes obtained. For each marker, the frequencies of alleles and genotypes for both positive and negative animal groups were compared by using the chi-square test and the Fisher's exact test. The odds ratios calculated as an estimate of relative risk of mastitis incidence associated with each microsatellite genotypes. A positive mastitis test reaction (MWT) was revealed in 19.5% of total samples. For BM1258, BM1443, and BM1818, the number of alleles was found to be 4, 3 and 5, respectively. The polymorphism in all three studied loci was high (PIC>0.5). The genetic parameters of these loci, including observed and expected heterozygosity, were estimated using full characterizations of this set of three polymorphic loci. The polymorphic information content, heterozygosity, and number of successful alleles of the studied loci showed that BM1443 had the lowest variability and BM1818 had the highest variability, with 0.597 and 0.757, respectively. The overall effects of the three studied markers on mastitis incidence were significantly (P<0.05) different. The genotypes combination ‘72/79’, ‘74/74’, and ‘79/82’ at BM1258 loci; ‘78/78’ and ‘88/88’ at BM1443 loci, were observed only in the mastitis free animals. On the other hand, BM4505 loci genotypes were found in the positive populations except the combination of genotypes 134/134, 134/140 and 134/144 animals. The information observed in the present study, could be valuable for improving mastitis resistance in Egyptian buffalo breeds through using molecular tools.",
"corpus_id": 237289950,
"score": 0,
"title": "Single Marker Association with Mastitis Incidence of Three Microsatellite Loci, BM1258, BM1443 and BM1818, in Egyptian Buffalo"
} |
{
"abstract": "Land-treatment of petroleum wastes is a widely used industrial practice, yet there has been no comprehensive evaluation of the long-term risks to human or terrestrial ecosystems from such practices. We evaluated cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) populations on three sites in Oklahoma (USA) that historically used land-treatment for disposal of various petroleum wastes (July 1995–March 1997). Average concentrations of fluoride in soil from these sites ranged from 878 to 4317 mg/kg. A census of resident cotton rats on land-treatment sites revealed a high incidence (40% overall) of dental lesions compared to reference populations (<1% dental lesions). During winter there was a 34% to 65% increase compared to summer in frequency of dental lesions in cotton rats on two of the three land-treatment sites. Incidence of dental lesions on two land-treatment sites was greater (9–16%) in female cotton rats compared to males. Cotton rats from land-treatment sites had higher concentrations of fluoride in bone and greater severity of dental lesions compared to reference animals. Dental lesions were considered to be most consistent with dental fluorosis because of elevated fluoride in bone. Neither concentration of fluoride in soil nor level of fluoride in bone was a good predictor of severity of dental lesions in cotton rats on land-treatment sites.",
"corpus_id": 389974,
"title": "FLUOROSIS RISKS TO RESIDENT HISPID COTTON RATS ON LAND-TREATMENT FACILITIES FOR PETROCHEMICAL WASTES"
} | {
"abstract": "Studies on the effects of anthropogenic contamination on wildlife have largely been focused at the individual level. Biomarkers have been used to monitor changes in the health of individuals exposed to contaminants; however, little attention has been given to the effects of chronic exposure at the population or community levels. We studied rodent assemblages from uncontaminated (reference) sites (n = 5) and abandoned petrochemical landfarms (n = 5) in Oklahoma to investigate potential alterations in community structure and composition. Rodent assemblages inhabiting landfarms had lower species diversity, lower richness, and a more even distribution of individuals across species. Reference sites showed typical rodent assemblage structure dominated by hispid cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) and fulvous harvest mice (Reithrodontomys fulvescens). Assemblages inhabiting landfarms also were dominated by cotton rats; however, harvest mice were replaced by deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) on two landfarms. Contam...",
"corpus_id": 84237568,
"title": "DYNAMICS OF RODENT ASSEMBLAGES INHABITING ABANDONED PETROLEUM LANDFARMS IN OKLAHOMA"
} | {
"abstract": "Background/Aims To enable appropriate antimicrobial treatment for community-onset infections in emergency departments (EDs), data are needed on the resistance profiles of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which are the main pathogens of community-onset bacteremia. Methods Records were reviewed of 734 patients with E. coli and K. pneumoniae bacteremia who visited the Daegu Fatima Hospital ED, Daegu, Korea between 2003 and 2009. We investigated the demographic data, clinical findings, and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the organisms. Results Of 1,208 cases of community-onset bacteremia, 62.8% were caused by E. coli or K. pneumoniae in an ED of a secondary care hospital. Five hundred and forty-eight cases of E. coli (75%) and 183 cases of K. pneumoniae (25%) were analyzed. Urinary tract infection (43.1%) was most common, followed by intra-abdominal infection (39%) and pneumonia (7.2%). Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, fluoroquinolone, third-generation cephalosporin (3GC) and amikacin resistance rates among E. coli and K. pneumoniae were 22.8%, 19.6%, 6.2%, and 1.3%, respectively. In 2009, the rate of 3GC resistance (10.6%) was significantly higher, compared to the annual averages of 2003 to 2008 (6.1%; p = 0.03). Previous exposure to antibiotics was an independent risk factor for 3GC resistance in multivariate logistic regression analysis. Conclusions The rate of 3GC resistance increased in community-onset infections, and previous exposure to antibiotics was an independent risk factor. Despite the increased 3GC resistance in community-onset infections, an amikacin combination therapy could provide an option for treatment of bacteremic patients with previous antibiotic exposure in an ED.",
"corpus_id": 14705733,
"score": 1,
"title": "Third-generation cephalosporin resistance of community-onset Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremia in a secondary hospital"
} |
{
"abstract": "We discuss the process of building semantic maps, how to interactively label entities in it, and use them to enable new navigation behaviors for specific scenarios. We utilize planar surfaces such as walls and tables, and static objects such as door signs as features to our semantic mapping approach. Users can interactively annotate these features by having the robot follow him/her, entering the label through a mobile app and performing a pointing gesture toward the landmark of interest. These landmarks can later be used to generate context-aware motions. Our pointing gesture approach can reliably estimate the target object using human joint positions and detect ambiguous gestures with probabilistic modeling. Our person following method attempts to maximize future utility by searching future actions, assuming constant velocity model for the human. We describe a simple method to extract metric goals from a semantic map landmark and present a human aware path planner that considers the personal spaces of people to generate socially-aware paths. Finally, we demonstrate context-awareness for person following in two scenarios: interactive labeling and door passing. We believe as the sensing technology improves and maps with richer semantic information becomes commonplace, it would create new opportunities for intelligent navigation algorithms.",
"corpus_id": 11758525,
"title": "Context-aware robot navigation using interactively built semantic maps"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper addresses the problem of classifying places in the environment of a mobile robot into semantic categories. We believe that semantic information about the type of place improves the capabilities of a mobile robot in various domains including localization, path-planning, or human-robot interaction. Our approach uses AdaBoost, a supervised learning algorithm, to train a set of classifiers for place recognition based on laser range data. In this paper we describe how this approach can be applied to distinguish between rooms, corridors, doorways, and hallways. Experimental results obtained in simulation and with real robots demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in various environments.",
"corpus_id": 11439563,
"title": "Supervised Learning of Places from Range Data using AdaBoost"
} | {
"abstract": "Personality is known to be relatively stable throughout adulthood. Nevertheless, it has been shown that major life events with high personal significance, including experiences engendered by psychedelic drugs, can have an enduring impact on some core facets of personality. In the present, balanced-order, placebo-controlled study, we investigated biological predictors of post-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) changes in personality. Nineteen healthy adults underwent resting state functional MRI scans under LSD (75µg, I.V.) and placebo (saline I.V.). The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) was completed at screening and 2 weeks after LSD/placebo. Scanning sessions consisted of three 7.5-min eyes-closed resting-state scans, one of which involved music listening. A standardized preprocessing pipeline was used to extract measures of sample entropy, which characterizes the predictability of an fMRI time-series. Mixed-effects models were used to evaluate drug-induced shifts in brain entropy and their relationship with the observed increases in the personality trait openness at the 2-week follow-up. Overall, LSD had a pronounced global effect on brain entropy, increasing it in both sensory and hierarchically higher networks across multiple time scales. These shifts predicted enduring increases in trait openness. Moreover, the predictive power of the entropy increases was greatest for the music-listening scans and when \"ego-dissolution\" was reported during the acute experience. These results shed new light on how LSD-induced shifts in brain dynamics and concomitant subjective experience can be predictive of lasting changes in personality. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3203-3213, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.",
"corpus_id": 3324808,
"score": -1,
"title": "LSD-induced entropic brain activity predicts subsequent personality change"
} |
{
"abstract": "Honey bees, Apis mellifera, use short-lived repellent scent marks to distinguish and reject flowers that have recently been visited by themselves or by siblings, and so save time that would otherwise be spent in probing empty flowers. Conversely, both honey bees and bumblebees, Bombus spp., can mark rewarding flowers with scent marks that promote probing by conspecifics. We examined detection of recently visited flowers in a mixed community of bumblebees foraging on comfrey, Symphytum officinale, in southern England. When foraging among inflorescences on a plant, three abundant species of Bombus probed fewer inflorescences more than once than would be expected from random foraging. Bees frequently encountered inflorescences but departed without probing them for nectar. Examination of the incidence of such rejections in the two most common species, B. terrestris and B. pascuorum, revealed that the low incidence of multiple probing visits was due to two factors: bees both foraged systematically and selectively rejected inflorescences that they had previously visited. When presented with inflorescences of known history, bees selectively rejected those that had been recently visited by themselves or by conspecifics compared with randomly selected inflorescences. They were also able to distinguish inflorescences that had been visited by other Bombus species. Bees were unable to distinguish and reject inflorescences from which the nectar had been removed artificially. We conclude that these Bombus species are probably using scent marks left by previous visitors. The significance of deposition and detection of interspecific scent marks for competitive interactions between species is discussed. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.",
"corpus_id": 2969977,
"title": "Foraging bumblebees avoid flowers already visited by conspecifics or by other bumblebee species"
} | {
"abstract": "Foraging by honeybee workers was investigated from the moment of the first foraging flight until death. To minimise the influence of factors other than senescence the foragers were trained to collect food from an artificial flower close to their hive. During each foraging trip the workers repeatedly visited an artificial flower, collecting one microlitre of 50% sugar solution per visit. During the first 50 flights the mean time taken to collect one portion of food decreased significantly and the number of visits to the artificial flower per flight increased significantly. During flights following the 50th flight, the mean time taken to collect one portion of food increased significantly and the number of visits to the artificial flower per flight decreased significantly. The results confirm earlier observations that the foraging behaviour of honeybee workers is not only influenced by learning, but also by the effects of senescence.",
"corpus_id": 788715,
"title": "Senescence and learning in honeybee (Apis mellifera) workers."
} | {
"abstract": "The main aim of this work is focused therefore on water quality assessment of the Vistula river and its primary tributaries. The study presents the analytical results of the contamination level of different organic and inorganic pollutants as well as the chemometric evaluation of the entire data set. A broad spectrum of compounds have been determined, including pesticides, polichlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), phenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, inorganic ions and some aggregate parameters like BOD. Majority of the organic xenobiotics have been analyzed for first time in the Vistula region on a large, long-term scale. Chemometric evaluation allowed the determination of natural clusters and groups of monitoring locations with similar pollution character. Chemometric analysis confirmed the classification of water purity of the Vistula River basin is related to the land utilization character in this region.",
"corpus_id": 1456304,
"score": 1,
"title": "Organic and inorganic pollution of the Vistula River basin"
} |
{
"abstract": "OBJECTIVE\nCyclophosphamide (CYC) therapy for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a disease predominantly affecting women of childbearing age, causes an unacceptably high incidence of irreversible premature ovarian failure (POF). This study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of depot leuprolide acetate, a synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRH-a), for protection against POF during CYC therapy.\n\n\nMETHODS\nYoung women with severe SLE treated in a standardized protocol of monthly intravenous bolus CYC were offered treatment with GnRH-a (depot leuprolide acetate; a 3.75-mg monthly injection during the standard CYC regimen). Patients treated with GnRH-a were compared with controls individually matched by age (+/-5 years) and by cumulative CYC dose (+/-5 gm). Reproductive status was determined after a minimum followup of 3 years after CYC therapy. The primary outcome was time to POF. Paired summary statistical analyses, Kaplan-Meier survival estimates, and Cox regression analyses were performed to assess differences in outcome between groups.\n\n\nRESULTS\nPOF developed in 1 of 20 women treated with GnRH-a (5%) compared with 6 of 20 controls (30%) matched by age and cumulative CYC dose (matched odds ratio 0.09, P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier estimates demonstrated improved cumulative ovarian protection over time in the GnRH-a-treated group (P = 0.04).\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nTreatment with GnRH-a during CYC therapy was associated with a significant reduction of POF in young women with severe SLE.",
"corpus_id": 1261683,
"title": "Use of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog for protection against premature ovarian failure during cyclophosphamide therapy in women with severe lupus."
} | {
"abstract": "SLE is a multi-system, autoimmune condition that can influence both male and female fertility. Inability to conceive may be attributed to several factors that may act singly or in combination: (i) older age in patients with SLE compared with healthy controls; (ii) disease-related infertility; and (iii) infertility through gonadotoxic treatments. In addition, psychosocial factors related to the disease may lower fecundity and may be associated with apparent infertility. Many therapeutic avenues are open to counteract reproductive damage in the management of SLE and to assist conception once infertility is diagnosed. These treatments can include the administration of gonadotrophin-receptor hormone analogues while receiving CYC treatment, the use of assisted reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization and psychosocial intervention to promote a healthier relationship with their partner. Knowledge of how these reproductive problems occur and its prevention/treatment in SLE patients should avert irreversible infertility as well as give hope to SLE patients with infertility.",
"corpus_id": 92018,
"title": "Causes and management of infertility in systemic lupus erythematosus."
} | {
"abstract": "The progress observed in the treatment of cancer have increased the survival rate of patients. Therefore, the different aspects of quality of life are considered as more and more important. Fertility is one of the major concern of women surviving cancer. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can alter gametes and reproductive function. For some patients, a method to preserve fertility potential can be proposed. In the patient who have a partner, embryo freezing is the most reliable method, but give a limited chance of pregnancy. Recent interesting data has been obtained with oocyte freezing but the teams succeeding in the method and the number of pregnancies obtained remains limited. Moreover these methods request the time to perform ovarian stimulation. Freezing of ovarian tissue is giving us lots of hopes. Ovarian stimulation is not necessary and allow the conservation of a large number of eggs. However it is requesting a surgical procedure and no pregnancy was obtained so far in the human species. If the different methods to preverve fertility were not possible to propose or failed, oocyte donation give a good chance of success. It is important to state that no matter which method is used, the success rate will be correlated to the integrity of the uterus which can be altered by the different treatments of cancer and especially by radiotherapy. Collaboration between the teams of oncology and reproductive medicine is a progress in the management of young cancer patients. The technical progress in the technique of ovarian tissue freezing and in vitro maturation of follicle could be determinant in the choices proposed to the patients.",
"corpus_id": 37230572,
"score": 2,
"title": "[Treatment of cancer in women and fertility preservation]."
} |
{
"abstract": "A body of evidence has shown that the control of E2F transcription factor activity is critical for determining cell cycle entry and cell proliferation. However, an understanding of the precise determinants of this control, including the role of other cell-cycle regulatory activities, has not been clearly defined. Here, recognizing that the contributions of individual regulatory components could be masked by heterogeneity in populations of cells, we model the potential roles of individual components together with the use of an integrated system to follow E2F dynamics at the single-cell level and in real time. These analyses reveal that crossing a threshold amplitude of E2F accumulation determines cell cycle commitment. Importantly, we find that Myc is critical in modulating the amplitude, whereas cyclin D/E activities have little effect on amplitude but do contribute to the modulation of duration of E2F activation, thereby affecting the pace of cell cycle progression.",
"corpus_id": 2616191,
"title": "Division of labour between Myc and G1 cyclins in cell cycle commitment and pace control"
} | {
"abstract": "Single-cell microscopy and computational modeling offer novel mechanistic insight into the G1/S switch that initiates DNA replication in budding yeast, revealing a Clb5/6-Cdk1 and Sic1 feedback loop and new rules of biochemical circuit design.",
"corpus_id": 8836855,
"title": "Design Principles of the Yeast G1/S Switch"
} | {
"abstract": "his research investigated relatedness need satisfaction in senior executives in three studies (two qualitative/ one quantitative). In study 1, we identified a matrix of coping strategies (MoCS) as conceptualization of senior executives’ behavioral responses to perceived social rejection or exclusion. Study 2 found that senior executives’ level of relatedness need satisfaction as a potential indicator of self-regulation failure was not significantly different from the rest of us. However, every sixth senior executive participant and every fourth senior executive participant from large organizations had a very low relatedness need satisfaction score with very large effect size. The final study 3, identified a relatedness loop model (RLM) as a theoretical framework for relatedness need satisfaction processes. In summary, our work offers an empirical foundation",
"corpus_id": 4501646,
"score": 0,
"title": "RELATEDNESS NEED SATISFACTION IN SENIOR EXECUTIVES"
} |
{
"abstract": "The adsorption of Cr(III) by two different coal varieties from Lakhra and Thar coalfields (Pakistan) have been studied in batch mode. The effect of adsorbent dose, pH, contact time and agitation speed on the adsorption of Cr(III) by both the coals were investigated. Adsorption equilibrium was achieved in 40-50 min. The Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherms were used to elucidate the observed sorption phenomena. The maximum Cr(III) removal was 2.61 mg of Cr(III) per gram of LC (Lakhra coal) and 2.55 mg of Cr(III) per gram of TC (Thar coal) as evaluated from Langmuir isotherm. The heat of sorption was in the range 3.75-3.87 kJ/mol as evaluated from Temkin isotherm. Best results were obtained at pH>5. It is proposed that low rank coals of Pakistan can be used for removal of toxic metals like Cr(III) from industrial effluents/waste waters.",
"corpus_id": 5425787,
"title": "Removal of chromium (III) by using coal as adsorbent."
} | {
"abstract": "Adsorption is an environmental friendly process for removal and/or recovery of heavy metals from wastewater. In recent years, it has been substantiated as a popular technique to treat industrial waste effluents, with significant advantages. In this work, batchwise removal of chromium (III) ions from water by Polyalthia longifolia leaves was studied as a function of adsorbent dose, pH, contact time, and agitation speed. Surface characteristics of the leaves were evaluated by recording IR spectra. The Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin adsorption isotherms were employed to explain the sorption process. It was found that one gram of leaves can remove 1.87 mg of trivalent chromium when working at pH 3.0. It has been concluded that Polyalthia longifolia leaves can be used as cost-effective and benign adsorbents for removal of Cr(III) ions from wastewater.",
"corpus_id": 6011334,
"title": "Removal of Chromium on Polyalthia longifolia Leaves Biomass"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper studies the effect of a porous medium and temperature-dependent viscosity on the unsteady flow and heat transfer for a viscous laminar incompressible fluid due to an impulsively started rotating infinite disc. The unsteady axi-symmetric boundary layer equations are solved using three methods, namely, (i) perturbation solution for small time, (ii) asymptotic analysis for large time and (iii) the finite difference method together with the Keller box elimination technique for intermediate times. The solutions are obtained in terms of local radial skin friction, local tangential skin friction and local rate of heat transfer at the surface of the disc, for different values of the pertinent parameters: the Prandtl number Pr, the viscosity variation parameter e and porosity parameter m. The computed dimensionless velocity and temperature profiles for Pr = 0.72 are shown graphically for different values of e and m.",
"corpus_id": 120089992,
"score": 1,
"title": "Unsteady flow and heat transfer of viscous incompressible fluid with temperature-dependent viscosity due to a rotating disc in a porous medium"
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper used a 4-level Frequency Shift Keying (4-FSK) modulation scheme to enhance the density of wireless data transfer from implantable biomedical microsystems to the outside world. Modeling and simulation of the wireless channel for 4-FSK modulation in the case of a neural recording implant has been done. To realize the 4-FSK scheme, the modulator and demodulator circuits are proposed, designed and simulated in a 0.18-μm CMOS process, and in the 174-216 MHz frequency band at a data rate of 13.5 Mbps. Operated using a 1.8 V supply voltage, the modulator circuit consumes a power of 7.8 μW.",
"corpus_id": 316696,
"title": "Wireless interfacing to cortical neural recording implants using 4-FSK modulation scheme"
} | {
"abstract": "In many of the electronic devices the major role is performed by micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). The electronics field has a vast application where in MEMS contribution to this field is very much greater. The electronics has a greater application in the area of micro-electro-mechanical systems which has greater applications in biomedical, electronics. The capacity, sensitivity in the power and its size helps MEMS for various different applications in different fields. If a device has a greater resonant frequency which can also be used in all frequencies that is at normal frequencies wider bandwidth, then also the MEMS fabrication can be done. A surface micromachined accelerometer is analyzed which can be used for generating energy from the environment. The characteristic feature is analyzed for the surface micromachined accelerometer. A surface micromachined accelerometer is simulate with a geometry of 3 space dimensions with a domain number of 120 whose number of boundaries are 838 which contains 1733 number of edges with 1076 vertices. The surface micromachined accelerator with all these specifications is simulate using COMSOL and the performance has been analyzed for various parameters namely frequency, acceleration and load impedance. The results show that energy has been harvested using the surface micromachined accelerometer.",
"corpus_id": 249251360,
"title": "An efficient and effective energy harvesting system using surface micromachined accelerometer"
} | {
"abstract": "The relationship between males perceived cost benefits and consistency of condom use in 4 areas preventing pregnancy avoiding AIDS partner expectations and embarrassment and reduction of pleasure--is examined. The stratified nationally representative sample of 1880 never-married males 15-19 years provided the data (the National Survey of Adolescent Males). There was overrepresentation of black and Hispanic men. Measures utilized and defined are as follows: consistency of condom use subjective expected utility of condom use the personal cost benefits of preventing pregnancy the normative belief in preventing pregnancy avoiding AIDS partner expectations embarrassment and reduction of pleasure and control variables (e.g. current age race family income living in a female-headed family at age 14 educational goals age at 1st intercourse region metropolitan residence importance of religion being born again locus of control and self-esteem). Although 1 limitation is the accuracy of teen reports of condom use which may be overreported the results indicate the consistency of adolescent males condom use is high. Males use of condoms is motivated both by perceptions of personal cost benefits to themselves and by cost benefits related to normative expectations. Consistency is significantly associated with males degree of belief in normative male contraceptive responsibility and perceived decreased pill use by partner. The utility for pregnancy prevention in contrast to prior research was not associated with condom use in either bivariate or multivariate analysis. This could be accounted for by the specification of the measure or that normative belief motivates condom use to a greater degree than perceived personal benefit. Worry about AIDS covaries with condom use but perceived risk is not related. Partner expectation is strongly related to condom use. Condom use is associated with the males degree of belief in a normative male responsibility to prevent pregnancy rather than as a personal benefit and the utility of the partner appreciating condom use. The findings for condom consistency and condom use at least intercourse follow a similar pattern except for utility (partner appreciates) and disutility (embarrassment). Consistency is not associated with current age and is positively associated with age at 1st intercourse. Those with >2 partners in the last year are more inconsistent users. The highest consistency is among black adolescent males. The implication for sex education is that emphasis should be on the benefit of consistent condom use in preventing AIDS and pregnancy encouragement of women to insist on condom use male responsibility in contraception and general social norms supporting condom use.",
"corpus_id": 143814947,
"score": 0,
"title": "Adolescent males condom use: relationships between perceived cost-benefits and consistency."
} |
{
"abstract": "Male infertility affects at least 5% of reproductive age males. The most common pathology is a complex presentation of decreased sperm output and abnormal sperm shape and motility referred to as oligoasthenoteratospermia (OAT). For the majority of OAT men a precise diagnosis cannot be provided. Here we demonstrate that leucine-rich repeats and guanylate kinase-domain containing isoform 1 (LRGUK-1) is required for multiple aspects of sperm assembly, including acrosome attachment, sperm head shaping and the initiation of the axoneme growth to form the core of the sperm tail. Specifically, LRGUK-1 is required for basal body attachment to the plasma membrane, the appropriate formation of the sub-distal appendages, the extension of axoneme microtubules and for microtubule movement and organisation within the manchette. Manchette dysfunction leads to abnormal sperm head shaping. Several of these functions may be achieved in association with the LRGUK-1 binding partner HOOK2. Collectively, these data establish LRGUK-1 as a major determinant of microtubule structure within the male germ line.",
"corpus_id": 438531,
"title": "LRGUK-1 Is Required for Basal Body and Manchette Function during Spermatogenesis and Male Fertility"
} | {
"abstract": "Hook2 partitions between the Golgi apparatus and the centrosome, and its depletion hinders ciliogenesis after mother centriole maturation without Golgi breakdown. Hook2 interacts with PCM1 and Rab8a, and Hook2-depleted cells can be forced to grow primary cilia by overexpressing GFP::Rab8a, indicating that Rab8a acts downstream of Hook2 and PCM1.",
"corpus_id": 17773608,
"title": "Hook2 is involved in the morphogenesis of the primary cilium"
} | {
"abstract": "Bioprinting is a process based on additive manufacturing from materials containing living cells. These materials, often referred to as bioink, are based on cytocompatible hydrogel precursor formulations, which gel in a manner compatible with different bioprinting approaches. The bioink properties before, during and after gelation are essential for its printability, comprising such features as achievable structural resolution, shape fidelity and cell survival. However, it is the final properties of the matured bioprinted tissue construct that are crucial for the end application. During tissue formation these properties are influenced by the amount of cells present in the construct, their proliferation, migration and interaction with the material. A calibrated computational framework is able to predict the tissue development and maturation and to optimize the bioprinting input parameters such as the starting material, the initial cell loading and the construct geometry. In this contribution relevant bioink properties are reviewed and discussed on the example of most popular bioprinting approaches. The effect of cells on hydrogel processing and vice versa is highlighted. Furthermore, numerical approaches were reviewed and implemented for depicting the cellular mechanics within the hydrogel as well as for prediction of mechanical properties to achieve the desired hydrogel construct considering cell density, distribution and material–cell interaction.",
"corpus_id": 3737816,
"score": 1,
"title": "Bioink properties before, during and after 3D bioprinting"
} |
{
"abstract": "The secretory process for glycoproteins in principal cells of the mouse caput epididymis was studied by electron microscope radioautography at intervals after exposure to [3H] fucose in vitro. The large Golgi apparatus showed very heavy labeling at the initial interval, followed by a steady decline in percent of grains and relative grain concentrations. Conversely, the epididymal lumen and the apical cell surface began low and increased in radioactivity at the 30-min interval. The extensive sparsely granulated endoplasmic reticulum showed modest increases in percent of grains and relative grain concentrations 30 min after administration of the percursor. Subdivision of the sparsely granulated reticulum into \"intermediate\" profiles (some ribosomes attached to the membranes) and \"smooth\" profiles (lacking ribosomes) showed that this increase was due to silver grains assigned to the smooth portions. After the initial interval, high relative grain concentrations were calculated for vesicles. The results indicate that glycosylation of epididymal secretory glycoproteins occurs in the Golgi apparatus, which is, therefore, not bypassed as its morphological features had suggested. The kinetics of the secretory process in the principal cells includes 15 to 30 min for synthesis of the polypeptide parts of secretory products and addition of sugars in the Golgi apparatus, and a similar time for subsequent release from the Golgi apparatus, transport to the apical end of the cell and discharge to the lumen. Ribosome-studded (intermediate) portions of the sparsely granulated endoplasmic reticulum are probably involved in synthesis of polypeptide parts of secretory products, while vesicles or smooth portions of the sparsely granulated reticulum may play a role in intracellular transport of glycoproteins.",
"corpus_id": 600372,
"title": "Radioautographic analysis of the secretory pathway for glycoproteins in principal cells of the mouse epididymis exposed to [3H] fucose."
} | {
"abstract": "Protein synthesis and secretion by the epididymis was studied in vitro by incubating tissue pieces with radioactive amino acids or one of a variety of radioactive sugars. When amino acids were used asprecursors, about 15% of the incorporated radioactivity was released into the medium; the release was 36-65% in the case of sugar precursors. In different regions of the epididymis, pronounced variations were apparent in the profile of secreted proteins formed from amino acids or from galactose, mannose, or fucose. Total protein synthesis as measured by l� 5) methionine incorporation was decreased by ‘\\�30% following castration of animals, and the proportion of incorporated radioactivity which was secreted was reduced from 15% to 10%. Only a few qualitative changes were evident in the types of protein secreted. Compared with general protein synthesis, the incorporation of sugars into glycoproteins was affected by castration to a much greater extent, with mannose incorporation being reduced by up to 90% in the cauda. Protease inhibitors (TLCK, TPCK, PMSF, benzamidine, phenanthroline) reduced total protein synthesis from �“ SI methionine but did not alter the profile of secreted proteins. Procaine also reduced total protein synthesis, and in the caput, but not the cauda, it caused a marked change in the pattern of secreted proteins. This differential effect of procaine did not appear to be due to an effect on “signal peptidasc.” Tunicaxnycin had little effect on protein synthesis and secretion by the epididymis when [“SI methionine was used as the precursor, although it did cause pronounced changes in protein secretion by testicular tissue. Greater effects of tunicamycin were evident when radioactive sugars were used as precursors, particularly in the case of [3 HI mannose. The incorporation of this precursor was reduced to 69% and 49% of normal in the caput and cauda, respectively. However, tunicamycin did not alter the profile of secreted radioactive proteins resulting from any of the incubations with radioactive sugars.",
"corpus_id": 46513843,
"title": "Secretion of proteins and glycoproteins by the rat epididymis: regional differences, androgen-dependence, and effects of protease inhibitors, procaine, and tunicamycin."
} | {
"abstract": "Benefit transfer refers to the transfer of economic values from a primary valuation study (study site) to a site where we need to conduct policy analysis (policy site). Due to the considerable costs and time required to conduct primary valuation studies, using benefit transfers to estimate the values for sites not yet valued is likely to attract policy interest. While benefit transfer is being increasingly applied in studies on environmental goods, its application in the field of cultural heritage resources is rare. The unique nature of these public goods, and differences in the size and demographic characteristics of the affected populations lead to a significant risk of benefit transfer providing irrelevant estimates for cultural heritage. In this study, we compared the results of two contingent valuation (CV) studies involving historic temples in Thailand and Vietnam, tested the validity and reliability of benefit transfers between the two sites, and explored the possibilities and difficulties in such transfers. We found that the error in transferring unadjusted mean willingness-to-pay (WTP) ranged from 46% to 129%. Adjustments for differences in purchasing power parity (PPP), income level and income elasticity between the sites substantially increased rather than decreased transfer errors in many instances. Function transfers did not perform better than unadjusted unit transfers. These results suggest that there are other important factors e possibly physical, cultural and institutional variables e that need to be taken into account in explaining the differences in WTP for cultural heritage aside from the usual income and socio-economic variables captured in CV studies. Until we are able to identify these other factors and measure their impacts, the potential policy use of benefit transfer in the case of cultural heritage goods remains limited. 2008 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.",
"corpus_id": 54674472,
"score": 0,
"title": "Comparing cultural heritage values in South East Asia : possibilities and difficulties in cross-country transfers of economic values"
} |
{
"abstract": "Phenanthnere (PHE) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon continuously discarded in the marine environment and bioavailable to many aquatic species. Although studies about PHE toxicity have been documented for adult oysters, the effects on early developmental stages are poorly characterized in bivalves. In this study, the effects of PHE (0.02 and 2.0μg.L-1) were evaluated on the embryogenesis and larval development of Crassostrea gigas. Toxicity bioassays, growth and deformities assessment, analysis of shell calcium abundance and transcript levels of genes related to xenobiotic biotransformation (CYP2AU2, CYP30C1), immune system (Cg-Tal) and tissue growth and shell formation (Ferritin, Insulin-like, Cg-Try, Calmodulin and Nacrein) were assayed in D-shape larvae after 24h of PHE exposure. At the highest concentration (2.0μg.L-1), PHE decreased the frequency of normal development (19.7±2.9%) and shell size (53.5±2.8mm). Developmental deformities were mostly related to abnormal mantle and shell formation. Lower calcium levels in oyster shells exposed to PHE 2.0μg.L-1 were observed, suggesting effects on shell structure. At this same PHE concentration, CYP30C1, Cg-Tal, Cg-Tyr, Calmodulin were upregulated and CYP2AU2, Ferritin, Nacrein, and Insulin-Like were downregulated compared to control larvae. At the lowest PHE concentration (0.02μg.L-1), it was observed a minor decrease in normal larval development (89,6±6%) and the remaining parameters were not affected. This is the first study to provide evidences that exposure to PHE can affect early oyster development at the molecular and morphological levels, possibly threatening this bivalve species.",
"corpus_id": 1516138,
"title": "Effects of phenanthrene on early development of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1789)."
} | {
"abstract": "Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is ubiquitous and its contents showing an increasing trend in the coastal environment. In order to investigate the effects of TBBPA on marine bivalves, juvenile manila clams Ruditapes phillipinarum were exposed to TBBPA for 28 days. The results showed that shell growth rate of juvenile clams after exposure to 62.5-1000 μg L-1 TBBPA for 28 d were significantly inhibited (p < 0.05). Then in order to link the changes in filtration rate, mRNA expression of insulin-like growth factor homologue (IGF) and tissue thyroid hormone (TH) contents to growth, juvenile clams were exposed to 62.5 and 500 μg L-1 TBBPA for 14 days. The transcriptional levels of neuroendocrine signals (NPF and insulin homologue) associated with filter feeding regulation, and genes of TH synthesis-related enzymes were also examined. The results showed that filtration rates was significantly reduced to 44.1% and 14% of controls after 14 d of exposure. In parallel, exposure to TBBPA significantly increased the expression levels of insulin which may elicit the filter feeding inhibition. TBBPA exposure caused alterations in tissue content of THs and mRNA expression of TH synthesis-related enzymes. However, the data showed increased T3 content, T3/T4 ratio and mRNA expression of IGF. These data demonstrated that the most important key event of TBBPA could be linked to growth impairment in juveniles was the reduction of filtration rate. These results provide a robust framework towards revealing the underlying mechanism of the growth inhibition caused by TBBPA on bivalves and understanding the adverse outcome pathway across taxonomic phyla.",
"corpus_id": 73463275,
"title": "Inhibition of growth in juvenile manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum: Potential adverse outcome pathway of TBBPA."
} | {
"abstract": "The zebrafish has long been a favourite model for the study of vertebrate development. Here we provide an overview of the current state of knowledge and resources for the study of this fish, with comments on the future direction of zebrafish genomics from Professor Mark Fishman and Dr Stephen Wilson. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.",
"corpus_id": 1038890,
"score": 1,
"title": "Danio Rerio, the Zebrafish"
} |
{
"abstract": "The building sector accounts for approximately 40% of national energy consumption, contributing to the environmental crisis of global warming. Using energy saving measures (e.g., improved thermal insulation, highly energy-efficient electrical and mechanical systems) provides opportunities to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings. Furthermore, if the life cycle cost (i.e., installation, operation and maintenance cost) of the measures is considered with their energy saving potential, it is possible to establish a cost-effective energy retrofit plan. Therefore, this research develops an energy saving strategy model considering its saving potential and life cycle cost of the measures for reducing energy consumption in existing buildings. To test the validity of the proposed model, a case study is carried out on an educational facility in South Korea, in response to its overconsumption of energy. The results demonstrate that in terms of energy saving and life cycle cost, the optimal energy retrofit plan is more cost-effective than the existing plan. Also, the break-even point for the optimal energy retrofit plan is within five years, and then revenue from energy saving continually occurs until 2052. For energy retrofit of existing buildings, using the proposed model would enable building owners to maximize energy savings while minimizing the life cycle cost.",
"corpus_id": 156000156,
"title": "Development of an Energy Saving Strategy Model for Retrofitting Existing Buildings: A Korean Case Study"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Multi-Attribute Decision-Making (MADM) methods prioritize the alternatives of comparative projects quite accurately. Problems arise when there is a need to determine the utility degrees and market values of the project alternatives. This becomes especially important for establishing the market value of real estate property in tender offers. However, the available MADM methods cannot accomplish this. Thus the authors of this article developed the MAMVA method, which permits determining the utility degrees and market values of project alternatives, and also developed a system on the basis of this developed method. This article presents the proposed Multi-Attribute Market Value Assessment (MAMVA) Method and the Decision Support System for Construction and Retrofit Projects (DSS-CRP). It also presents a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and system. The application of the MAMVA Method and DSS-CRP System for prioritizing and for determining the utility degrees and market values of construction and retrofit projects under consideration for financing by the European Economic Area (EEA) and Norway Financial Mechanism Grant made it possible to decrease the amount of requested support. This article also presents the analysis and comprehensive assessment of the noted construction and retrofit projects. These were performed in consideration of the entire life cycle of a project and of needs satisfaction relevant to all the groups interested in a project. The developed MAMVA Method and DSS-CRP System permit assessing the appropriateness of projects under analysis in conceptual and qualitative forms. This method and system automatically submit the values of the project alternatives.",
"corpus_id": 17625913,
"title": "Method and system for Multi-Attribute Market Value Assessment in analysis of construction and retrofit projects"
} | {
"abstract": "The key issue for decision making in stock trading is selection of the right stock at the right time. In order to select the superior stocks (alternatives) for investment, a finite number of alternatives have to be ranked considering several and sometimes conflicting criteria that often are vague and have uncertainty conditions. Therefore, we are faced with a special Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem. The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy expert system for selecting superior stocks in order to encounter the uncertainty of stock portfolio recommendation and model the recommendation rules which experts at Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) use for portfolio recommendation. The results of implementing the designed fuzzy expert system at TSE were affirmative.",
"corpus_id": 26999967,
"score": 2,
"title": "Design and implementation of fuzzy expert system for Tehran Stock Exchange portfolio recommendation"
} |
{
"abstract": "Knowledge about the effects of exercise on myofibrillar protein breakdown in human subjects is limited. Our purpose was to measure the changes in the degradation of myofibrillar proteins in response to different ways of eliciting muscle contractions using the local interstitial 3‐methyl‐histidine (3‐MH) concentration as a marker for myofibrillar protein breakdown. Untrained males (n=8, 22–27 years, range) performed 210 maximal isokinetic eccentric contractions with each leg on an isokinetic dynamometer. One leg performed voluntary (VOL) and the other leg performed electrically induced contractions (ES). Microdialysis probes were placed in m. vastus lateralis in both the legs immediately after, and 1 and 3 days post‐exercise. Interstitial 3‐MH was higher in ES vs VOL immediately after exercise (P<0.05). One and 3 days post‐exercise no difference between the two exercise types was observed. Only after ES did the histochemical stainings show significant disruption of cytoskeletal proteins. Furthermore, intracellular disruption and destroyed Z‐lines were markedly more pronounced in ES vs VOL. In conclusion, the local level of interstitial 3‐MH in the skeletal muscle was significantly enhanced after ES compared with VOL immediately after exercise, while the level of 3‐MH did not change in the post‐exercise period after VOL. These results indicate that the local myofibrillar breakdown is accelerated after ES associated with severe myofiber damage.",
"corpus_id": 1470422,
"title": "Myofibrillar proteolysis in response to voluntary or electrically stimulated muscle contractions in humans"
} | {
"abstract": "Skeletal muscle atrophy is evident after muscle disuse, unloading, or spaceflight and results from decreased protein content as a consequence of decreased protein synthesis, increased protein breakdown or both. At this time, there are essentially no human data describing proteolysis in skeletal muscle undergoing atrophy on Earth or in space, primarily due to lack of valid and accurate methodology. This particular study aimed at assessing the effects of short-term unloading on the muscle contractile proteolysis rate. Eight men were subjected to 72-h unilateral lower limb suspension (ULLS) and intramuscular interstitial levels of the naturally occurring proteolytic tracer 3-methylhistidine (3MH) were measured by means of microdialysis before and on completion of this intervention. The 3MH concentration following 72-h ULLS (2.01 +/- 0.22 nmol/ml) was 44% higher (P < 0.05) than before ULLS (1.56 +/- 0.20 nmol/ml). The present experimental model and the employed method determining 3MH in microdialysates present a promising tool for monitoring skeletal muscle proteolysis or metabolism of specific muscles during conditions resulting in atrophy caused by, e.g., disuse and real or simulated microgravity. This study provides evidence that the atrophic processes are evoked rapidly and within 72 h of unloading and suggests that countermeasures should be employed in the early stages of space missions to offset or prevent muscle loss during the period when the rate of muscle atrophy is the highest.",
"corpus_id": 162443,
"title": "Skeletal muscle proteolysis in response to short-term unloading in humans."
} | {
"abstract": "We investigated the effects of the nature of the flooding amino acid on the rate of incorporation of tracer leucine into human skeletal muscle sampled by biopsy. Twenty-three healthy young men (24.5 +/- 5. 0 yr, 76.2 +/- 8.3 kg) were studied in groups of four or five. First, the effects of flooding with phenylalanine, threonine, or arginine (all at 0.05 g/kg body wt) on the incorporation of tracer [13C]leucine were studied. Then the effects of flooding with labeled [13C]glycine [0.1 g/kg body wt, 20 atoms percent excess (APE)] and [13C]serine (0.05 g/kg body wt, 15 APE) on the incorporation of simultaneously infused [13C]leucine were investigated. When a large dose of phenylalanine or threonine was administered, incorporation of the tracer leucine was significantly increased (from 0.036 to 0. 067 %/h and 0.037 to 0.070 %/h, respectively; each P < 0.01). However, when arginine, glycine, or serine was administered as a flooding dose, no stimulation of tracer leucine incorporation could be observed. These results, together with those previously obtained, suggest that large doses of individual essential, but not nonessential, amino acids are able to stimulate incorporation of constantly infused tracer amino acids into human muscle protein.",
"corpus_id": 12343497,
"score": 2,
"title": "Effects of flooding amino acids on incorporation of labeled amino acids into human muscle protein."
} |
{
"abstract": "The large electrostatic repulsion arising from the negatively charged backbone of RNA molecules presents a large barrier to folding. Solution counterions assist in the folding process by screening this electrostatic repulsion. While early research interpreted the effect of these counterions in terms of an empirical ligand-binding model, theories based on physical models have supplanted them and revised our view of the roles that ions play in folding. Instead of specific ion-binding sites, most ions in solution interact inside an 'ion atmosphere'--a fluctuating cloud of nonspecifically associated ions surrounding any charged molecule. Recent advances in experiments have begun the task of characterizing the ion atmosphere, yielding valuable data that have revealed deficiencies in Poisson-Boltzmann theory, the most widely used theory of the ion atmosphere. The continued development of experiments will help guide the development of improved theories, with the ultimate goal of understanding RNA folding and function and nucleic acid/protein interactions from a quantitative perspective.",
"corpus_id": 241742,
"title": "A repulsive field: advances in the electrostatics of the ion atmosphere."
} | {
"abstract": "Counterion atmospheres condensed onto charged biopolymers strongly affect their physical properties and biological functions, but have been difficult to quantify experimentally. Here, monovalent and divalent counterion atmospheres around DNA double helices in solution are probed using small-angle x-ray scattering techniques. Modulation of the ion scattering factors by anomalous (resonant) x-ray scattering and by interchanging ion identities yields direct measurements of the scattering signal due to the spatial correlation of surrounding ions to the DNA. The quality of the data permit, for the first time, quantitative tests of extended counterion distributions calculated from atomic-scale models of biologically relevant molecules.",
"corpus_id": 755110,
"title": "Counterion distribution around DNA probed by solution X-ray scattering."
} | {
"abstract": "Inter-organelle membrane contact sites are emerging as major sites for the regulation of intracellular Ca2+ concentration and distribution. Here, extracellular stimuli operate on a wide array of channels, pumps, and ion exchangers to redistribute intracellular Ca2+ among several compartments. The resulting highly defined spatial and temporal patterns of Ca2+ movement can be used to elicit specific cellular responses, including cell proliferation, migration, or death. Plasma membrane (PM) also can directly contact mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) through caveolae, small invaginations of the PM that ensure inter-organelle contacts, and can contribute to the regulation of numerous cellular functions through scaffolding proteins such as caveolins. PM and ER organize specialized junctions. Here, many components of the receptor-dependent Ca2+ signals are clustered, including the ORAI1-stromal interaction molecule 1 complex. This complex constitutes a primary mechanism for Ca2+ entry into non-excitable cells, modulated by intracellular Ca2+. Several contact sites between the ER and mitochondria, termed mitochondria-associated membranes, show a very complex and specialized structure and host a wide number of proteins that regulate Ca2+ transfer. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the particular action of several oncogenes and tumor suppressors at these specialized check points and analyze anti-cancer therapies that specifically target Ca2+ flow at the inter-organelle contacts to alter the metabolism and fate of the cancer cell.",
"corpus_id": 7016484,
"score": 1,
"title": "Regulation of Endoplasmic Reticulum–Mitochondria Ca2+ Transfer and Its Importance for Anti-Cancer Therapies"
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract\nFirms pursuing technological alliances to gain competitive advantages have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business environment. This article examines which technological alliance portfolio configuration is better for focal firm performance using a portfolio rather than a dyadic perspective. To assess technological alliance portfolio effects on Korean pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, we adopted three explanatory variables—number of alliances, number of partners, and spanning structural holes. The growth rate of revenue and the growth rate of profit are used as dependent variables. We identify two characteristics of technological alliance portfolios from the two-step generalized method of moments estimates. First, we find that between two firms with the same number of alliances, the firm with the larger number of partners would have a better performance. This result is unlike those in previous studies because it distinguishes between the number of alliances and number of partners based on the network theory. Second, we find that spanning structural holes affects firm performance rather like a double-edge sword—it positively affects the growth rate of profit but negatively affects the growth rate of revenue of firms. In short, spanning structural holes is simultaneously beneficial for firm profitability and unfavorable for firm growth. This result differs from those of earlier studies because it shows that a firm spanning structural holes among alliance partners produces either a positive or a negative effect, suggesting that a firm should vary its strategy depending on whether it prioritizes profitability or growth.",
"corpus_id": 153530503,
"title": "Technological alliance portfolio configuration and firm performance"
} | {
"abstract": "Purpose \n \n \n \n \nThe purpose of this paper is to fill the theoretical void in the discussion of effects of alliance portfolios on firm performance by studying the moderating role of a firm’s strategic positioning. \n \n \n \n \nDesign/methodology/approach \n \n \n \n \nA fixed effects, autoregressive panel model on a comprehensive, longitudinal sample of large and medium-sized publicly traded companies in the USA. \n \n \n \n \nFindings \n \n \n \n \nThe effect of alliance portfolios on firm performance is conditional on the firm’s strategic positioning. \n \n \n \n \nResearch limitations/implications \n \n \n \n \nThe results may not be applicable to firms outside the USA or small firms. \n \n \n \n \nPractical implications \n \n \n \n \nExecutives should craft their alliance portfolios while considering the strategic positioning of their firms. \n \n \n \n \nOriginality/value \n \n \n \n \nThis paper presents the first study of alliance portfolios that uses a comprehensive, multi-industry sample while considering firms’ strategic positioning. The paper is the first to jointly study characteristics of alliance portfolios and firm strategies.",
"corpus_id": 157353587,
"title": "Alliance portfolios and firm performance: the moderating role of firms’ strategic positioning"
} | {
"abstract": "Researchers have debated whether entrepreneurial opportunities are discovered or created. However, they have often overlooked the importance of the contextual variables that stimulate, shape, and define the entrepreneurial act. This article focuses on entrepreneurial activities within technology-based established companies and shows how and why certain contexts are more conducive for discovery, while others promote the discovery and creation of opportunities. The article suggests a virtuous and dynamic cycle where discovery enriches creation which, in turn, fosters the discovery of new opportunities. The focus on the context and key features of entrepreneurial search contributes to the behavioral theory of and the debate on the origins of opportunities. Copyright © 2008 Strategic Management Society.",
"corpus_id": 154619054,
"score": 2,
"title": "The virtuous cycle of discovery and creation of entrepreneurial opportunities"
} |
{
"abstract": "We present analytical expressions for the frequency-domain transfer function of an optical flip-flop (O-FF) cell that employs an semiconductor optical amplifier-Mach-Zehnder interferometer gate and a feedback loop. Our analysis relies on first-order perturbation theory approximations applied for the first time to optical switching structures employing feedback-loop, resulting to an O-FF frequency response that allows for a qualitative and quantitative analysis of memory speed and performance characteristics and their dependence on certain device parameters. We show that the transfer function of the O-FF exhibits periodic resonance frequencies resembling the behavior of optical linear cavity configurations and its free spectral range is mainly dictated by the length of the waveguide that forms the feedback loop, revealing this loop length as the main memory speed determining factor. Experimental verification is provided, achieving good agreement with theoretical observations. The presented design guidelines show the way for achieving memory speeds beyond 30 GHz if employing feedback loop lengths lower than 5 mm, while we provide a direct comparison between O-FFs employing feedback loops or coupled switches, giving insight for future optical memories.",
"corpus_id": 6081904,
"title": "Memory Speed Analysis of an Optical Flip-Flop Employing a SOA-MZI and a Feedback Loop"
} | {
"abstract": "We present a comprehensive numerical model for intrinsic small-signal modulation response of both reflective, and traveling-wave semiconductor optical amplifiers. We investigate the small-signal photon and carrier density spatial distribution, modulation response, and -3 dB bandwidth for uniform and lossless traveling-wave modulation current model. The analysis shows that the current model does not significantly affect the modulation response as long as the modulation frequency is within the bandwidth. One of the most important results of our analysis is the discovery of the bandwidth maximum in case of a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier operating with low to moderate input optical powers and high current densities. The bandwidth can be further improved by choosing the optimal amplifier length.",
"corpus_id": 29256528,
"title": "Numerical Study of the Small-Signal Modulation Bandwidth of Reflective and Traveling-Wave SOAs"
} | {
"abstract": "Laser filamentation is actively studied for its rich variety of applications, from supercontinuum generation to lightning control [1]. In air, femtosecond filaments result from the self-focusing of ultrashort light pulses that couple to their own plasma channel and stay self-guided upon extended paths at high intensity levels. Driven by strong nonlinearities, these optical structures are able to promote broadband THz-to-far-infrared radiation when using laser fields composed of two colors, e.g., a fundamental and its second harmonic [2].",
"corpus_id": 30083406,
"score": 1,
"title": "Impact of the pump wavelength in THz emissions by two-color femtosecond laser filaments in air"
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper presents a ring voltage-controlledoscillator (ring-VCO)-based sub-sampling phase locked loop(PLL) CMOS circuit with low phase noise and low jitter. A 2.08 GHz PLL is developed by use of 65 nm CMOS technology. The in-band phase noise is -119.1 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz and the output jitter integrated from 1 kHz to 10 MHz is 0.73 ps (rms) with the power consumpition 20.4 mW. The normalized jitter-power product is -229.7 dB.",
"corpus_id": 5861636,
"title": "A ring-VCO-based sub-sampling PLL CMOS circuit with 0.73 ps jitter and 20.4 mW power consumption"
} | {
"abstract": "A single-chip ultra-wideband (UWB) receiver was developed using 0.18 mum CMOS technology, and inter-chip wireless data communication by integrated antennas was confirmed. Timing pulse and data pulse with on-off keying were alternately sent from a transmitting antenna. Double Gaussian monocycle pulse (GMP) template generators performed detections of timing and data pulses. A single GMP template, whose probability distribution of the pulse repetition cycle is given by Gaussian, showed a random jitter of 4.87 ps. Dual-Dirac model could explain the probability distribution of the cycle of double GMP template. Obtained random jitter and deterministic jitter were 4.6 ps and 14.4 ps, respectively. The receiver successfully recovered 200 Mbps data at the distance of 0.5 mm.",
"corpus_id": 26339964,
"title": "A Single-Chip Ultra-Wideband Receiver With Silicon Integrated Antennas for Inter-Chip Wireless Interconnection"
} | {
"abstract": "Transmission characteristics of integrated linear dipole antennas fabricated on Si substrates were investigated for inter-chip signal transmission of wireless interconnections of Si ultra-large scale integrated circuits. Linear dipole antennas 1–6 mm long were fabricated on oxidized P-type Si substrates with resistivities of 10, 79.6, and 2290 Ω·cm. The transmission characteristics were investigated in the frequency and time domains. The transmission gain of a 4-mm-long dipole antenna fabricated on a 2.29 kΩ·cm resistivity Si substrate was -10 dB for a distance of 3 mm. A Gaussian monocycle pulse with a pulse width of 70 ps and a bandwidth of 20 GHz was transmitted and received successfully between Si chips with an air gap.",
"corpus_id": 120190482,
"score": 2,
"title": "Signal Transmission Characteristics between Si Chips with Air Gap using Si Integrated Dipole Antennas"
} |
{
"abstract": "Extracellular ATP, at micromolar concentrations, induces significant functional changes in a wide variety of cells and tissues. ATP can be released from the cytosol of damaged cells or from exocytotic vesicles and/or granules contained in many types of secretory cells. There are also efficient extracellular mechanisms for the rapid metabolism of released nucleotides by ecto-ATPases and 5'-nucleotidases. The diverse biological responses to ATP are mediated by a variety of cell surface receptors that are activated when ATP or other nucleotides are bound. The functionally identified nucleotide or P2-purinergic receptors include 1) ATP receptors that stimulate G protein-coupled effector enzymes and signaling cascades, including inositol phospholipid hydrolysis and the mobilization of intracellular Ca2+ stores; 2) ATP receptors that directly activate ligand-gated cation channels in the plasma membranes of many excitable cell types; 3) ATP receptors that, via the rapid induction of surface membrane channels and/or pores permeable to ions and endogenous metabolites, produce cytotoxic or activation responses in macrophages and other immune effector cells; and 4) ADP receptors that trigger rapid ion fluxes and aggregation responses in platelets. Current research in this area is directed toward the identification and structural characterization of these receptors by biochemical and molecular biological approaches.",
"corpus_id": 2420183,
"title": "Signal transduction via P2-purinergic receptors for extracellular ATP and other nucleotides."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract. We used a combined biochemical and histocytochemical approach to study ecto-ATPase in the rat cardiac muscle. The reaction medium employed for histocytochemical detection was optimized in biochemical assays to achieve the highest enzyme activity and lowest inhibition by the capture agent used for visualization of the reaction product. Approximately 70% of the enzyme activity was retained in samples after the fixation procedure. Divalent cations stimulated ecto-ATPase. High activity was detectable within a wide pH range. Histocytochemical reaction was observed at sites at which extracellular ATP can potentially exert its actions on the cardiac muscle: nerve endings, plasma membranes of cardiac myocytes and capillary endothelial cells, and T-tubules. Product of the reaction was found exclusively at the outer surface of the cells. In controls, enzyme activity was abolished by diethyl pyrocarbonate and slightly stimulated by digitonin and concanavalin A, whereas sodium orthovanadate, N-ethylmaleimide, and sodium azide yielded no effect. Our results support the view that cardiac ecto-ATPase is involved in important physiological functions and suggest that its activity may be regulated by the release of ATP from nerve endings.",
"corpus_id": 193966,
"title": "Ecto-ATPase activity in the rat cardiac muscle: biochemical characteristics and histocytochemical localization"
} | {
"abstract": "Neuropeptide Y (NPY) was isolated and characterised from acid-ethanol extracts of rabbit and guinea pig brain. In both instances the chromatographic purification was a two-step procedure of gel filtration followed by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The amino acid sequence of rabbit and guinea pig NPY was found to be identical to human and rat NPY as deduced from the cDNA structures. With the exception of the porcine peptide, all mammalian NPYs characterised to date have a methionine residue in position 17. This methionine residue is readily oxidized as indicated by the high degree of spontaneous oxidation of peptides found in the rabbit and guinea pig brain extracts and in NPY extracted from a rat phaeochromocytoma cell line. It is concluded that NPY is among the most highly conserved peptides and that NPYs containing methionine in position 17 are prone to oxidation.",
"corpus_id": 36572512,
"score": 1,
"title": "Neuropeptide Y in guinea pig, rabbit, rat and man. Identical amino acid sequence and oxidation of methionine-17"
} |
{
"abstract": "Trust is a basic ingredient in the creation, the evolvement and the conservation of a long-term relationship between suppliers and buyers. It is also a key differentiator in defining the success or failure of many e-business companies, in order to endorse the importance of online trust. In this paper we present a study on online trust in the B2C context. More specifically, we focus on the issues of perceived company’s reputation, online trust and intention for online transactions. The aim of this study is to examine if there is a positive relationship between perceived company’s reputation and on- line trust, and between online trust and consumer’s intention for online transactions.",
"corpus_id": 27781442,
"title": "Online Trust: The Influence of Perceived Company’s Reputation on Consumers’ Trust and the Effects of Trust on Intention for Online Transactions"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper develops and tests a model of consumer trust in an electronic commerce vendor. Building consumer trust is a strategic imperative for web-based vendors because trust strongly influences consumer intentions to transact with unfamiliar vendors via the web. Trust allows consumers to overcome perceptions of risk and uncertainty, and to engage in the following three behaviors that are critical to the realization of a web-based vendor’s strategic objectives: following advice offered by the web vendor, sharing personal information with the vendor, and purchasing from the vendor’s web site. Trust in the vendor is defined as a multi-dimensional construct with two inter-related components—trusting beliefs (perceptions of the competence, benevolence, and integrity of the vendor), and trusting intentions—willingness to depend (that is, a decision to make oneself vulnerable to the vendor). Three factors are proposed for building consumer trust in the vendor: structural assurance (that is, consumer perceptions of the safety of the web environment), perceived web vendor reputation, and perceived web site quality. The model is tested in the context of a hypothetical web site offering legal advice. All three factors significantly influenced consumer trust in the web vendor. That is, these factors, especially web site quality and reputation, are powerful levers that vendors can use to build consumer trust, in order to overcome the negative perceptions people often have about the safety of the web environment. The study also demonstrates that perceived Internet risk negatively affects consumer intentions to transact with a web-based vendor. q 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.",
"corpus_id": 15579135,
"title": "The impact of initial consumer trust on intentions to transact with a web site: a trust building model"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper proposes a two level approach to solve the problem of real-time vision-based hand gesture classification. The lower level of the approach implements the posture recognition with Haar-like features and the AdaBoost learning algorithm. With this algorithm, real-time performance and high recognition accuracy can be obtained. The higher level implements the linguistic hand gesture recognition using a context-free grammar-based syntactic analysis. Given an input gesture, based on the extracted postures, the composite gestures can be parsed and recognized with a set of primitives and production rules.",
"corpus_id": 8014237,
"score": -1,
"title": "Real-time Vision-based Hand Gesture Recognition Using Haar-like Features"
} |
{
"abstract": "Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) containing unmethylated CpG motifs (CpG-ODN) act as potent immune stimulators by activating innate immunity through toll-like receptor 9. These immunomodulatory effects of CpG-ODN have been reported to be associated with anti-tumor immunity. In this study, we used a murine B16F10 melanoma model and a CT26 colon cancer model to assess whether CpG-ODN-based immunotherapy was effective in inhibiting tumor cells that have already metastasized to distant organs. Systemic administration of CpG-ODN after melanoma cell injection resulted in a significant inhibition of pulmonary colonization. When CpG-ODN was administered after tumor cell injection, it also inhibited pulmonary metastasis of the tumor cells, albeit to a lesser degree in the latter case. Systemic administration of CpG-ODN after subcutaneous inoculation of CT26 colon cancer cells diminished pulmonary metastasis from the primary tumor sites. Additionally, CpG-ODN also inhibited the growth of pulmonary colonization of the colon tumor cells when CpG-ODN was administered after the primary tumors had been surgically removed. These data indicate that CpG-ODN was effective in inhibiting pulmonary metastasis of the B16F10 melanoma and CT26 colon cancer cells, as well as the growth of metastasized tumor cells. Our results suggest that CpG-ODN-based immunotherapy may be beneficial in controlling micrometastasis after surgery in clinical settings.",
"corpus_id": 21002,
"title": "CpG-ODN-based immunotherapy is effective in controlling the growth of metastasized tumor cells."
} | {
"abstract": "Although melanoma mostly affects the skin, it is notorious for its propensity to easily develop metastasis. Metastatic melanoma is highly resistant to a variety of therapies. We examined the anti-metastatic potential of peritumoral monotherapy against murine cutaneous B16F10 melanoma with synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) containing unmethylated CpG motifs. We demonstrated that repeated peritumoral injections of CpG ODN significantly reduced skin tumor size. Peritumoral CpG ODN-treatment of skin tumors prevented the development of pulmonary B16F10 colonies. Adoptive transfer of splenocytes obtained from CpG ODN-treated mice markedly reduced the number of previously established pulmonary colonies in recipient naïve mice. T-lymphocyte depletion studies indicated that the anti-metastatic effect was dependent on both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. These results suggest that CpG ODN are promising as a preventive and therapeutic anti-metastatic measure against melanoma.",
"corpus_id": 2101410,
"title": "Peritumoral CpG oligodeoxynucleotide treatment inhibits tumor growth and metastasis of B16F10 melanoma cells."
} | {
"abstract": "Recruitment by wealthy countries of health personnel from developing countries is threatening the viability of crucial health programs in poor countries, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. Australia has participated in this “brain drain”, although the extent and impact of this on different countries has not been adequately assessed. Australia depends on overseas‐trained doctors to fill vacancies in public hospitals and private practice, particularly in rural and outer suburban areas where locally trained professionals are reluctant to work. Australia should adopt national strategies to minimise harm and maximise benefits of skills migration; concerted international action will also be required.",
"corpus_id": 46547042,
"score": 1,
"title": "“Brain drain” or ethical recruitment?"
} |
{
"abstract": "Neuronal specification is often seen as a multistep process: earlier regulators confer broad neuronal identity and are followed by combinatorial codes specifying neuronal properties unique to specific subtypes. However, it is still unclear whether early regulators are re-deployed in subtype-specific combinatorial codes, and whether early patterning events act to restrict the developmental potential of postmitotic cells. Here, we use the differential peptidergic fate of two lineage-related peptidergic neurons in the Drosophila ventral nerve cord to show how, in a feedforward mechanism, earlier determinants become critical players in later combinatorial codes. Amongst the progeny of neuroblast 5–6 are two peptidergic neurons: one expresses FMRFamide and the other one expresses Nplp1 and the dopamine receptor DopR. We show the HLH gene collier functions at three different levels to progressively restrict neuronal identity in the 5–6 lineage. At the final step, collier is the critical combinatorial factor that differentiates two partially overlapping combinatorial codes that define FMRFamide versus Nplp1/DopR identity. Misexpression experiments reveal that both codes can activate neuropeptide gene expression in vast numbers of neurons. Despite their partially overlapping composition, we find that the codes are remarkably specific, with each code activating only the proper neuropeptide gene. These results indicate that a limited number of regulators may constitute a potent combinatorial code that dictates unique neuronal cell fate, and that such codes show a surprising disregard for many global instructive cues.",
"corpus_id": 870959,
"title": "Specification of Neuronal Identities by Feedforward Combinatorial Coding"
} | {
"abstract": "The human central nervous system (CNS) displays the greatest cellular diversity of any organ system, consisting of billions of neurons, of numerous cell sub-types, interconnected in a vast network. ...",
"corpus_id": 1013272,
"title": "Genetic pathways controlling CNS development : The role of Notch signaling in regulating daughter cell proliferation in Drosophila"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Some of the major features of the atmospheric circulation predicted to occur following a geomagnetic substorm in the earth's thermosphere are described on the basis of a three-dimensional, time-dependent simulation. The circulation changes and the gravity wave oscillatory phenomena are traced at two levels of the thermosphere, 120 and 240 km, over a period of 4 1 2 h following the substorm onset. For both aspects of the response, and for each height, the characteristics, magnitudes and propagation are quite distinct, and the three-dimensional model shows that very large differences occur between one local time and another. The night-time period, and particularly that between 0000 and 0600 LT, shows, at middle latitudes, the largest wind and wave amplitudes, and the most complex response. In general, the response at any location to an individual substorm can be considered as a series of wave-like disturbances. This is due to the nature of the impulsive disturbance which is concentrated in an annular ring corresponding to the auroral oval, of which each part generates both poleward-travelling as well as equatorward-travelling components, with approximate circular symmetry. Observing the response at 240 km, it appears that focusing occurs of the initial poleward wavefront, and in subsequent poleward wavefronts, the latter arising from the apparent ‘reflection’ of waves initially propagating sunward as they interact with the mean anti-sunward flow on the dayside. Three major waves can therefore be identified in the night-time mid-latitude thermosphere—the initial wave from the nearby auroral oval, a second wave following about 90 min later originating in the dayside auroral oval. This wave is stronger than the first and, being focused and guided by the enhanced mean anti-sunward flow, is capable of generating larger waves. About another 90 min later a third wave arrives due to the dayward propagating wave being reflected, refocused and guided by the mean flow, which can also cause comparable disturbances throughout the thermosphere. There is a strong enhancement of the contra-rotating vortices of the high latitude region—providing sunward flow in the morning and evening auroral ovals with a strong return anti-sunward flow over the polar cap, which extends well into the mid-latitude regions in the midnight and early morning period. In general, amplitudes of the wind and wave disturbances increase continuously with altitude above about 100 km, even allowing for the omission of propagating tidal winds from our model (generated by the lower atmosphere). For the modest disturbance simulated here—a substorm we consider typical of a period when Kp ~ 6-winds of 200–250 m s−1 occur at 120 km, increasing to 500 m s−1 at 240 km, and near 400 km the winds exceed 600 m s−1. While at 240 km the response is dominated by oscillations superimposed on an enhancement of the general thermospheric circulation, at 120 km there is strong evidence that two long-lasting vortices may be created by the dynamical and energetic effects of the substorm, while there is yet no direct observational counterpart of such vortices—an anticyclone centred between 2200 and midnight, and a cyclone centred between 1000 and midday both in the auroral oval—they may be quite characteristic features of the slow recovery of the thermosphere from the impulsive effects of the additional energy input during geomagnetic substorms.",
"corpus_id": 121057948,
"score": 0,
"title": "A three-dimensional, time-dependent simulation of the global dynamical response of the thermosphere to a geomagnetic substorm"
} |
{
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Even if many Vibrio spp. are endemic to coastal waters, their distribution in northern temperate and boreal waters is poorly studied. To identify environmental factors regulating Vibrio populations in a salinity gradient along the Swedish coastline, we combined Vibrio-specific quantitative competitive PCR with denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis-based genotyping. The total Vibrio abundance ranged from 4 × 103 to 9.6 × 104 cells liter−1, with the highest abundances in the more saline waters of the Skagerrak Sea. Several Vibrio populations were present throughout the salinity gradient, with abundances of single populations ranging from 5 × 102 to 7 × 104 cells liter−1. Clear differences were observed along the salinity gradient, where three populations dominated the more saline waters of the Skagerrak Sea and two populations containing mainly representatives of V. anguillarum and V. aestuarianus genotypes were abundant in the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea. Our results suggest that this apparent niche separation within the genus Vibrio may also be influenced by alternate factors such as nutrient levels and high abundances of dinoflagellates. A V. cholerae/V. mimicus population was detected in more than 50% of the samples, with abundances exceeding 103 cells liter−1, even in the cold (annual average water temperature of around 5°C) and low-salinity (2 to 4‰) samples from the Bothnian Bay (latitude, 65°N). The unsuspected and widespread occurrence of this population in temperate and boreal coastal waters suggests that potential Vibrio pathogens may also be endemic to cold and brackish waters and hence may represent a previously overlooked health hazard.",
"corpus_id": 258032,
"title": "Environmental Influences on Vibrio Populations in Northern Temperate and Boreal Coastal Waters (Baltic and Skagerrak Seas)"
} | {
"abstract": "The Baltic Sea is a large, shallow, and strongly stratified brackish water basin. It suffers from eutrophication, toxic cyanobacterial blooms, and oxygen depletion, all of which pose a threat to local marine communities. In this study, the diversity and community structure of the northern Baltic Sea bacterial communities in the water column were, for the first time, thoroughly studied by 454 sequencing. The spring and autumn bacterial communities were one order of magnitude less diverse than those in recently studied oceanic habitats. Patchiness and strong stratification were clearly detectable; <1% of operational taxonomic units were shared among 11 samples. The community composition was more uniform horizontally (at a fixed depth) between different sites than vertically within one sampling site, implying that the community structure was affected by prevailing physical and hydrochemical conditions. Taxonomic affiliations revealed a total of 23 bacterial classes and 169 genera, while 5% of the sequences remained unclassified. The cyanobacteria accounted for <2% of the sequences, and potentially toxic cyanobacterial genera were essentially absent during the sampling seasons.",
"corpus_id": 551485,
"title": "Spatially differing bacterial communities in water columns of the northern Baltic Sea."
} | {
"abstract": "It is well-known that ecological and evolutionary processes can occur on similar time scales resulting in eco-evolutionary dynamics. One of the main questions in eco-evolutionary dynamics involves the assessment of the relative contribution of evolution, ecology and their interaction in the eco-evolutionary change under study. This has led to the development of several methods aimed to quantify the contributions of ecology and evolution to observed trait change, here referred to as eco-evolutionary partitioning metrics. This study provides an overview on currently-used partitioning metrics with a focus on methods that can quantify evolutionary and non-evolutionary contributions to population and community trait change. I highlight key differences between these metrics found in previous studies. Additionally, I also provide a detailed comparison between the ‘Geber’ method and the reaction norm approach. Next, I provide a guideline for researchers to assess which metrics are best suited for their data, give an overview on the type of data needed for these metrics, and how this data can be collected with a focus on community data.",
"corpus_id": 92287705,
"score": 1,
"title": "Eco-evolutionary partitioning metrics: a practical guide for biologists"
} |
{
"abstract": "Cloud computing is a network access model that aims to transparently and ubiquitously share a large number of computing resources. These are leased by a service provider to digital customers, usually through the Internet. Due to the increasing number of traffic accidents and dissatisfaction of road users in vehicular networks, the major focus of current solutions provided by intelligent transportation systems is on improving road safety and ensuring passenger comfort. Cloud computing technologies have the potential to improve road safety and traveling experience in ITSs by providing flexible solutions (i.e., alternative routes, synchronization of traffic lights, etc.) needed by various road safety actors such as police, and disaster and emergency services. In order to improve traffic safety and provide computational services to road users, a new cloud computing model called VANET-Cloud applied to vehicular ad hoc networks is proposed. Various transportation services provided by VANET-Cloud are reviewed, and some future research directions are highlighted, including security and privacy, data aggregation, energy efficiency, interoperability, and resource management.",
"corpus_id": 2228926,
"title": "VANET-cloud: a generic cloud computing model for vehicular Ad Hoc networks"
} | {
"abstract": "As mounting population and need of advance commutes systems, available vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) systems will not suffice the communication complex issues between vehicles on land, water and air. In order to meet ever growing challenges, VANET cloud computing techniques start contributing with its supple state line less storage, high end virtual techniques and logical schema connectivity to make commute rich, safe and pleasure experience to users. In this paper, we proposed an architectural model for flight monitoring simulation, which optimizes the scheduling of flights in the most prominent manner by centralizing all resources at single cloud which optimizes the time management of effective communication among resources. This model will be an immense resource not only for commercial flights but also for air force navigation systems. VANET existing systems were designed for vehicular networks while our proposed solution flying ad hoc networks (FANET) or Flights Air Networks adapts VANET approach on high speed air traffic, FANET may use electromagnetic waves for data transfer between flights as electromagnetic waves speed is much higher than flights speeds, it may ensure timely communication between flights and other communicating sources.",
"corpus_id": 28515171,
"title": "FANET Based Flights Monitoring Simulation System Over Cloud"
} | {
"abstract": "The need for high bandwidth operational amplifiers (op amp) exists for numerous applications. This need requires research in the area of Op Amp bandwidth extension. The exploited method in this thesis uses a class of compensation called Indirect Feedback Frequency Compensation in which the compensation current is fed back indirectly from the output to an internal high impedance node, to extend the bandwidth of an Op Amp. Among various compensation methods for operational amplifiers, indirect compensation offers potentially large benefits in regards to power to speed trade-off. The indirect compensated Op Amps can exhibit significant improvements in speed over traditional Miller compensated Op Amps and result in much smaller layout size and lower power consumption. However the technique has not been widely used in practice due to a lack of clear design procedure. This thesis develops an analytical description of how indirect compensation works and derives key trade off equations among various specifications. These results provide the insight needed for practically designing operational amplifiers with this technique. Based on the results, a step-by-step design procedure is proposed for an operational amplifier using indirect compensation. To demonstrate the proposed design procedure, a two stage Op Amp is designed. The Op Amp achieved a 2 MHz gain-bandwidth product (GBW) driving a large capacitive load (100 pF). The GBW of the Op Amp was improved by a factor of 10 times compared to the miller compensation scheme. The amplifier documented in this thesis achieved a higher simulated figures-of-merit (FoMs) compared to the state-of-art and can be directly used in integrated systems to achieve higher performance.",
"corpus_id": 18186770,
"score": -1,
"title": "High bandwidth low power operational amplifier design and compensation techniques"
} |
{
"abstract": "Influence Maximization (IM), which selects a set of $k$ users (called seed set) from a social network to maximize the expected number of influenced users (called influence spread), is a key algorithmic problem in social influence analysis. Due to its immense application potential and enormous technical challenges, IM has been extensively studied in the past decade. In this paper, we survey and synthesize a wide spectrum of existing studies on IM from an algorithmic perspective , with a special focus on the following key aspects: (1) a review of well-accepted diffusion models that capture the information diffusion process and build the foundation of the IM problem, (2) a fine-grained taxonomy to classify existing IM algorithms based on their design objectives, (3) a rigorous theoretical comparison of existing IM algorithms, and (4) a comprehensive study on the applications of IM techniques in combining with novel context features of social networks such as topic, location, and time. Based on this analysis, we then outline the key challenges and research directions to expand the boundary of IM research.",
"corpus_id": 52197287,
"title": "Influence Maximization on Social Graphs: A Survey"
} | {
"abstract": "In a social network, even about the same information the excitement between different users are different. If we want to spread a piece of new information and maximize the expected total amount of excitement, which seed users should we choose? This problem indeed is substantially different from the renowned influence maximization problem and cannot be tackled using the existing approaches. In this paper, motivated by the demand in a few interesting applications, we model the novel problem of activity maximization, and tackle the problem systematically. We first analyze the complexity and the approximability of the problem. We develop an upper bound and a lower bound that are submodular so that the Sandwich framework can be applied. We then devise a polling-based randomized algorithm that guarantees a data dependent approximation factor. Our experiments on four real data sets clearly verify the effectiveness and scalability of our method, as well as the advantage of our method against the other heuristic methods.",
"corpus_id": 9158977,
"title": "Activity Maximization by Effective Information Diffusion in Social Networks"
} | {
"abstract": "Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) has recently emerged as one of the new networking paradigms to significantly change the way that the networks and services are deployed, managed, and operated. One of the major advantages of NFV is to reduce hardware cost, meanwhile increasing service agility and scalability. Recently, there are many platforms for NFV management and orchestration (MANO) are available, however few of them contains dedicated modules or components for security management. This paper is intended to study the feasibility of extending the current NFV orchestrator to have the capability of managing security mechanisms. To do that, we propose a security extension module based on TOSCA data model which is commonly used by NFV MANO architecture. We then develop an access control use case to illustrate the usage of our proposed security extension. Specifically, we integrate the security extension into the Moon framework, which can automatically verify security attributes, generate access control policies, and further enforce the policies through the underlying infrastructure according to the high-level security policies. The preliminary results show that our security extension can work together with the NFV orchestrator to enable fine-grained access control to protect resources and services.",
"corpus_id": 5447109,
"score": -1,
"title": "A First Step Towards Security Extension for NFV Orchestrator"
} |
{
"abstract": "In eutherian (‘placental’ mammals, sex is determined by the presence or absence of the Y chromosome-borne gene SRY, which triggers testis determination. Marsupials also have a Y-borne SRY gene, implying that this mechanism is ancestral to therians, the SRY gene having diverged from its X-borne homologue SOX3 at least 180 million years ago. The rare exceptions have clearly lost and replaced the SRY mechanism recently. Other vertebrate classes have a variety of sex-determining mechanisms, but none shares the therian SRY-driven XX female:XY male system. In monotreme mammals (platypus and echidna), which branched from the therian lineage 210 million years ago, no orthologue of SRY has been found. In this study we show that its partner SOX3 is autosomal in platypus and echidna, mapping among human X chromosome orthologues to platypus chromosome 6, and to the homologous chromosome 16 in echidna. The autosomal localization of SOX3 in monotreme mammals, as well as non-mammal vertebrates, implies that SRY is absent in Prototheria and evolved later in the therian lineage 210-180 million years ago. Sex determination in platypus and echidna must therefore depend on another male-determining gene(s) on the Y chromosomes, or on the different dosage of a gene(s) on the X chromosomes.",
"corpus_id": 812974,
"title": "Sex determination in platypus and echidna: autosomal location of SOX3 confirms the absence of SRY from monotremes"
} | {
"abstract": "The male hypermethylated (MHM) region, located near the middle of the short arm of the Z chromosome of chickens, consists of approximately 210 tandem repeats of a BamHI 2.2-kb sequence unit. Cytosines of the CpG dinucleotides of this region are extensively methylated on the two Z chromosomes in the male but much less methylated on the single Z chromosome in the female. The state of methylation of the MHM region is established after fertilization by about the 1-day embryonic stage. The MHM region is transcribed only in the female from the particular strand into heterogeneous, high molecular-mass, non-coding RNA, which is accumulated at the site of transcription, adjacent to the DMRT1 locus, in the nucleus. The transcriptional silence of the MHM region in the male is most likely caused by the CpG methylation, since treatment of the male embryonic fibroblasts with 5-azacytidine results in hypo-methylation and active transcription of this region. In ZZW triploid chickens, MHM regions are hypomethylated and transcribed on the two Z chromosomes, whereas MHM regions are hypermethylated and transcriptionally inactive on the three Z chromosomes in ZZZ triploid chickens, suggesting a possible role of the W chromosome on the state of the MHM region.",
"corpus_id": 4085204,
"title": "Transcripts of the MHM region on the chicken Z chromosome accumulate as non-coding RNA in the nucleus of female cells adjacent to the DMRT1 locus"
} | {
"abstract": "The roles of proteases in cancer are dynamic. Furthermore, the roles or functions of any one protease may differ from one stage of cancer to another. Proteases from tumor-associated cells (e.g., fibroblasts, inflammatory cells, endothelial cells) as well as from tumor cells make important contributions to ‘tumor proteolysis’. Many tumors exhibit increases in expression of proteases at the level of transcripts and protein; however, whether those proteases play causal roles in malignant progression is known for only a handful of proteases. What the critical substrate or substrates that are cleaved in vivo by any given protease is also known for only a few proteases. Therefore, the recent development of techniques and reagents for live cell imaging of protease activity, in conjunction with informed knowledge of critical natural substrates, should help to define protease functions. Here we describe live cell assays for imaging proteolysis, protocols for quantifying proteolysis and the use of such assays to follow the dynamics of proteolysis by tumor cells alone and tumor cells interacting with other cells found in the tumor microenvironment. In addition, we describe an in vitro model that recapitulates the architecture of the mammary gland, a model designed to determine the effects of dynamic interactions with the surrounding microenvironment on ‘tumor proteolysis’ and the respective contributions of various cell types to ‘tumor proteolysis’. The assays and models described here could serve as screening platforms for the identification of proteolytic pathways that are potential therapeutic targets and for further development of technologies and imaging probes for in vivo use.",
"corpus_id": 10706024,
"score": 1,
"title": "Imaging and quantifying the dynamics of tumor-associated proteolysis"
} |
{
"abstract": "In patients with chronic rhinitis, H1 receptor antagonists play an important role in relieving the symptoms of sneezing, itching, and rhinorrhea. New information about the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of first-generation H1 receptor antagonists such as chlorpheniramine has become available in the past few years. Comprehensive pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies of new relatively nonsedating H1 receptor antagonists such as terfenadine, astemizole, loratadine, and cetirizine are appearing. An understanding of the differences in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics among H1 receptor antagonists is required for optimal use of these drugs.",
"corpus_id": 1705145,
"title": "H1 receptor antagonist treatment of chronic rhinitis."
} | {
"abstract": "Astemizole, a new long‐acting antihistamine, (H1 receptor antagonist), 10 mg taken once daily was found to be an effective prophylactic treatment for the symptoms of allergic rhinitis in 75% (twelve from sixteen) of subjects in a double‐blind placebo‐controlled study. The success rate with placebo was < 20% (three from sixteen). There were two treatment failures in highly atopic individuals taking the active drug. The classic side effects of antihistamines, most notably sedation, were minimal and reflected in the control group. Two subjects reported weight gain: one of these noted an increase in appetite during the 6‐week trial period. Six of seven subjects who continued to take the drug for a longer period (up to 16 weeks) experienced marked weight gain: five of them reported an increase in appetile. Reactions to allergen skin tests were significantly reduced in patients taking astemizole.",
"corpus_id": 29454158,
"title": "Astemizole: a new long‐acting antihistamine in the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis"
} | {
"abstract": "An in vivo model of human allergic disease has been developed in which nasal challenge with antigen leads to physiologic changes, together with a release of increased amounts of inflammatory mediators into nasal secretions obtained by washing the nose with saline. In 105 experiments involving 35 subjects, only allergic subjects consistently demonstrated an increase in the concentrations of the mast cell mediator, histamine, and the putative mast cell mediators, TAME-esterase and PGD2. The release of each mediator was significantly (p less than 0.001) related to the physiologic change (sneezing). The release of each mediator also correlated significantly with the release of the other 2 mediators (p less than 0.001). This system, for the first time, clearly relates an in vivo symptom and mediator release and thus should provide an excellent tool for the further study of the allergic response and nasal pathophysiology.",
"corpus_id": 7664102,
"score": 2,
"title": "Mediator release after nasal airway challenge with allergen."
} |
{
"abstract": "UNLABELLED\nRandomized clinical trials have not shown long-term benefit of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (PHT) nor have they shown conclusively that the harmful consequences outweighs the benefits of the treatment. Rather, it is possible that an individualized hormone replacement therapy in questionably clinically healthy postmenopausal women may lead to different results than randomized trials.\n\n\nDESIGN\nIn this cross-sectional study we evaluated anthropometric parameters, body composition, serum lipids, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV) and neurocognitive functions in 39 healthy postmenopausal women PHT users or not users (n=13, age 53.0+/-3.3 and n=26, age=53.3+/-5.0 SD, respectively) as well as in 27 younger controls (ages=33.3+/-7.1).\n\n\nRESULTS\nDemographic parameters were similar in women PHT users and not users. Postmenopausal women showed a significantly increase of body mass index (BMI) as well as of waist circumference, compared to younger controls, but in PHT users the values of fat free mass were intermediate between the ones of not treated and younger women. The study of HRV showed a reduction in low frequency (LF) component (sympathetic modulation) during the day, and a reduction in high frequency (HF) component (parasympathetic modulation), particularly in postmenopausal women without PHT. PHT users were characterized by autonomic parameters intermediate between younger controls and age-matched women without PHT.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe impact of PHT on the age-dependent changes of anthropometric features and body composition seems to be modest but positive. Furthermore, PHT seems to play a positive role on the autonomic modulation of cardiac function, through a shift of LF/HF ratio values towards those of young controls.",
"corpus_id": 945272,
"title": "Cardiovascular, anthropometric and neurocognitive features of healthy postmenopausal women: effects of hormone replacement therapy."
} | {
"abstract": "Objective The aim of this study was to assess the dynamical interaction between the cardiovascular autonomic control and sex hormones in perimenopausal women under menopausal hormone therapy (MHT). Patients and methods Seventy women (age: 51.6±2.1 years) were treated with MHT. Standard time and frequency domain measures of heart rate variability (HRV) and index S of synchronization between the slow oscillations in HRV and photoplethysmographic waveform variability were studied during a 6-week treatment with MHT. We assessed also the dynamics of the following sex hormones: estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and testosterone. Results MHT increased estradiol and decreased follicle-stimulating hormone. Hot flashes and index S were significantly decreased under MHT (P<0.05). Other autonomic indices were not significantly changed (P>0.05). Changes of index S did not correlate with changes of sex hormones and hot flushes (P>0.05). Conclusion The obtained results may indicate the independence of heart autonomic control (assessed by HRV measures) from women’s hormonal status. However, any changes in sex hormones contribute to changes in the systemic control of circulation, which is assessed by index S.",
"corpus_id": 86690894,
"title": "Interaction between cardiovascular autonomic control and sex hormones in perimenopausal women under menopausal hormone therapy"
} | {
"abstract": "Main marginated ethnic groups in Span are to be found among gypsies and 3rd world immigrants. The first group include about 250,000 persons and the second group more tan half a million people. Their origins and their being past of the less fortunate social layers made them a group of health risk. Pediatric pathologies are those favored by socio-economic shortcomings as well as hygienic-sanitary deficiencies. Imported pediatric pathologies have a small incident.",
"corpus_id": 8950941,
"score": 1,
"title": "[Marginality, ethnic groups and health]."
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper presents a flexible and low-power Read-Out Circuit (ROC) with tunable sensitivity, designed to interface a wide range of commercial resistive pressure sensors for robotic applications. The ROC provides contact detection, monitoring small capacitance variations at low pressure ( $428\\times 159~\\mu \\text{m}^{2}$ ) has a power consumption of 27.2 $\\mu \\text{W}$ , for $V_{\\mathrm {DD}}~1$ V. Using digital control inputs, the ROC allows a wide range tuning of measurement sensitivity (6.7–46.4 mbar/LSB) and adjustable acquisition time (226.6–461.7 $\\mu \\text{s}$ and 648–890 $\\mu \\text{s}$ , for contact detection and pressure evaluation, respectively). The read-out time of $\\sim 1$ ms is compatible with human response after touch.",
"corpus_id": 37193160,
"title": "A Flexible Low-Power 130 nm CMOS Read-Out Circuit With Tunable Sensitivity for Commercial Robotic Resistive Pressure Sensors"
} | {
"abstract": "Thin, flexible, robust capacitive pressure sensors have been the subject of research in many fields where axial strain sensing with high spatial resolution and pressure resolution is desirable for small loads, such as tactile robotics and biomechanics. Simple capacitive pressure sensors have been designed and implemented on flexible substrates in general agreement with performance predicted by an analytical model. Two designs are demonstrated for comparison. The first design uses standard flex circuit technology, and the second design uses photolithography techniques to fabricate capacitive sensors with higher spatial and higher pressure resolution. Sensor arrays of varying sensor size and spacing are tested with applied loads from 0 to 1 MPa. Pressure resolution and linearity of the sensors are significantly improved with the miniaturized, custom fabricated sensor array compared to standard flexible circuit technology.",
"corpus_id": 18472292,
"title": "Flexible capacitive sensors for high resolution pressure measurement"
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper we present direct and inverse kinematic models and a methodology for optimal force distribution calculation for the legs of an hexapod robot. This approach is used in the case of real time hexapod force control. The force distribution problem is formulated in terms of a nonlinear programming problem under equality and inequality constraints. Then, according to, the friction constraints are transformed from nonlinear inequalities into a combination of linear equalities and linear inequalities. The original nonlinear constrained programming problem is then transformed into a quadratic optimization problem. Some simulation results are given and perspectives on hexapod control are discussed.",
"corpus_id": 124383372,
"score": -1,
"title": "Optimal force distribution for the legs of an hexapod robot"
} |
{
"abstract": "Background: The pathogenesis of acute otitis media is complex and multifactorial. It is characterized by inflammation of the middle ear with an infiltration of leukocytes, macrophages and mast cells. The resulting effusion contains a large amount of inflammatory mediators, among which are cytokines. Objectives: To test the role of IL‐6 in the inflammatory process associated with acute otitis media. Methods: We analyzed 20 middle ear fluid (MEF) sample pairs, obtained by aspiration before initiating antibiotic therapy (day 1) and during treatment (days 4–3, for the presence of IL‐6. IL‐6 concentrations were assayed with an ELISA kit (detection limit 5 pg/ml) and were correlated with bacterial etiology and bacterial eradication from the middle ear. Results: IL‐6 was detected in all middle ear effusions analyzed. We found decreased IL‐6 concentrations in culture negative MEF compared to culture positive MEF on both days 1 and 4–5 (day 1, 1752.20 ± 1001.31 pg/ml vs 1216.20 ± 1015.44 pg/ml, p= 0.19; days 4–5, 1049.36 ± 472.40 pg/ml vs 800.33 ± 676.00 pg/ml, p= 0.23); however, differences did not achieve statistical significance. Overall, a marked and significant decrease in IL‐6 concentration occurred following 72–96 h of antibiotic therapy (1618.15 ± 1004.88 pg/ml vs 936.85 ± 581.05 pg/ml, p= 0.04). While MEF IL‐6 concentrations decreased in ears where bacteria persisted (1468.20 ± 858.48 pg/ml vs 1044.80 ± 514.16 pg/ml, p= 0.167) or were eradicated (2320.20 ± 866.16 pg/ml vs 767.40 ± 522.88 pg/ml, p= 0.029), a more prominent decline was demonstrated in the latter.",
"corpus_id": 2781833,
"title": "Middle ear effusion IL‐6 concentration in bacterial and non‐bacterial acute otitis media"
} | {
"abstract": "Haemophilus influenzae is a major pathogen in acute otitis media (AOM) causing disease that is not clinically distinguishable from that caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. AOM caused by H. influenzae is particularly associated with older age and recurrent disease. Antibiotics differ in their ability to eradicate H. influenzae from the middle ear space. In the United States, widespread pneumococcal vaccination has increased the importance of H. influenzae as a major theraputic challenge in the treatment of AOM.",
"corpus_id": 12515115,
"title": "Haemophilus influenzae: A Significant Pathogen in Acute Otitis Media"
} | {
"abstract": "The purpose of this work was to define all features, and show the potential, of the novel HYPERcollar applicator system for hyperthermia treatments in the head and neck region. The HYPERcollar applicator consists of (1) an antenna ring, (2) a waterbolus system and (3) a positioning system. The specific absorption rate (SAR) profile of this applicator was investigated by performing infra-red measurements in a cylindrical phantom. Mandatory patient-specific treatment planning was performed as an object lesson to a patient with a laryngeal tumour and an artificial lymph node metastasis. Comfort tests with healthy volunteers have revealed that the applicator provides sufficient comfort to maintain in treatment position for an hour: the standard hyperthermia treatment duration in our centre. By phantom measurements, we established that a central focus in the neck can be obtained, with 50% iso-SAR lengths of 3.5 cm in transversal directions (x/y) and 9–11 cm in the axial direction (z). Using treatment planning by detailed electromagnetic simulations, we showed that the SAR pattern can be optimised to enable simultaneous encompassing of a primary laryngeal tumour and a lymph node metastasis at the 25% iso-SAR level. This study shows that the applicator enables a good control, and sufficient possibilities for optimisation, of the SAR pattern. In an ongoing clinical feasibility study, we will investigate the possibilities of heating various target regions in the neck with this apparatus.",
"corpus_id": 74274098,
"score": 1,
"title": "The HYPERcollar: A novel applicator for hyperthermia in the head and neck"
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract 1. 1. Retardation of the growth of Musca domestica larvae by 2-amino-butan-1-ol, 2-amino-2-methylpropan-1-ol and a number of their N-alkyl-derivatives has been studied. 2-Aminobutan-1-ol was the most active compound in this respect. 2. 2. Choline was effective in reversing this retardation when included in the larval diet at a considerably lower concentration than that of the aminobutanols. A number of compounds related to choline were also capable of reversing the growth retardation, although none were as effective as choline. 3. 3. The majority of the aminobutanols studied were incorporated into the phospholipids of the larvae. 4. 4. Formation of considerable amounts of phosphoryl-2-aminobutan-1-ol and an increase in the phosphorylcholine concentration was demonstrated in larvae fed on diets containing 2-aminobutan-1-ol. 5. 5. The antagonistic effect of the aminobutanols and choline in the housefly is discussed and the results compared with studies carried out with vertebrates.",
"corpus_id": 7907060,
"title": "The effect of 2-aminobutan-1-ols on the growth of the housefly (Musca domestica)."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Evidence has been obtained which supports the conclusion that the chronic administration of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol to young rats produces an inhibition of the incorporation of the methyl group of methionine into lipid-bound choline of liver, kidney, and other tissues. The incorporation of formate-C14, glycine-2-C14, and serine-3-C14, but not of betaine-CH3-C14, is also inhibited. The incorporation of choline-CH3-C14 or choline-1,2-C14 is not affected under the same conditions. In vivo, the extent of inhibition increases with the duration of administration of aminomethylpropanol and reaches a maximal value after 5–6 days. No acute effect of the compound is seen in vivo, but an acute effect can be demonstrated in vitro. The inhibitory effect of chronically administered aminomethylpropanol in vivo is not affected by the acute administration of relatively large amounts of choline along with the l -methionine-CH3-C14. However, the chronic administration of sufficient quantities of choline together with the aminomethylpropanol prevents the inhibitory effect of the latter. These results, together with the lack of a demonstratable acute effect of aminomethylpropanol in vivo, have been interpreted as possibly indicating that 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol only becomes an inhibitor of de novo choline synthesis after it has become transformed, perhaps to a lipid-bound state.",
"corpus_id": 27985229,
"title": "Inhibition of de novo choline biosynthesis by 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol."
} | {
"abstract": "For every 100 house fly larvae placed on a chemically defined medium, 64 reached maturity, 56 pupated, and 27 adults emerged. Several second-generation larvae were obtained. Feeding tests showed that omission of riboflavin, calcium pantothenate, nicotinic acid, or biotin from the food resulted in significant mortality during the first instar, and of thiamin by the third instar. Omission of choline or pyridoxine did not affect larval survival but led to significant mortality at pupation. Therefore, these seven vitamins are considered dietary requirements of the larvae. No requirement for p -aminobenzoic acid, inositol, or folic acid was shown.",
"corpus_id": 87862459,
"score": 2,
"title": "Vitamin Requirements of the House Fly, Musca Domestica L.(Diptera: Muscidae)"
} |
{
"abstract": "The EMIB dense MCP technology is a new packaging paradigm that provides localized high density interconnects between two or more die on an organic package substrate, opening up new opportunities for heterogeneous on-package integration. This paper provides an overview of EMIB architecture and package capabilities. First, EMIB is compared with other approaches for high density interconnects. Some of the inherent advantages of the technology, such as the ability to cost effectively implement high density interconnects without requiring TSVs, and the ability to support the integration of many large die in an area much greater than the typical reticle size limit are highlighted. Next, the overall EMIB architecture envelope is discussed along with its constituent building blocks, the package construction with the embedded bridge, die to package interconnect features. Next, the EMIB assembly process is described at a high level. Finally, high bandwidth signaling between the die is discussed and the link bandwidth envelope is quantified.",
"corpus_id": 23312271,
"title": "Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) -- A High Density, High Bandwidth Packaging Interconnect"
} | {
"abstract": "Three-dimensional integrated circuits (3-D ICs) offer significant improvements over two-dimensional circuits, and promise a solution to the severe problems that are being, and will be, encountered as monolithic process geometries are reduced to below 65 nm. Several methods associated with the fabrication of 3-D ICs are discussed in this paper, and the techniques developed by Tezzaron Semiconductor Corp., are described in detail. Four successful 3-D ICs are described, along with the anticipated benefits of applying 3-D design to future system-on-chip (SoC) devices.",
"corpus_id": 13821044,
"title": "Three-Dimensional Integrated Circuits and the Future of System-on-Chip Designs"
} | {
"abstract": "A Goubau-line leaky-wave antenna (LWA) with a large scanning angle is presented in this letter. In contrast to the conventional Goubau-line leaky wave with a small scanning angle range, this letter employed a periodically bending Goubau line, which not only brings in a periodic perturbation for leaky-wave radiation, but also enhances the scanning range due to the increased delay for each line element. The simulation and experimental results show that the proposed LWA provides $90\\%$ radiation efficiency and 7–10 dBi radiation gain from backfire to endfire through broadside as frequency changes. The proposed antenna features good radiation performance and has a compact and low-profile configuration.",
"corpus_id": 51905276,
"score": -1,
"title": "Goubau-Line Leaky-Wave Antenna for Wide-Angle Beam Scanning From Backfire to Endfire"
} |
{
"abstract": "Neural network-based methods for image processing are becoming widely used in practical applications. Modern neural networks are computationally expensive and require specialized hardware, such as graphics processing units. Since such hardware is not always available in real life applications, there is a compelling need for the design of neural networks for mobile devices. Mobile neural networks typically have reduced number of parameters and require a relatively small number of arithmetic operations. However, they usually still are executed at the software level and use floating-point calculations. The use of mobile networks without further optimization may not provide sufficient performance when high processing speed is required, for example, in real-time video processing (30 frames per second). In this study, we suggest optimizations to speed up computations in order to efficiently use already trained neural networks on a mobile device. Specifically, we propose an approach for speeding up neural networks by moving computation from software to hardware and by using fixed-point calculations instead of floating-point. We propose a number of methods for neural network architecture design to improve the performance with fixed-point calculations. We also show an example of how existing datasets can be modified and adapted for the recognition task in hand. Finally, we present the design and the implementation of a floating-point gate array-based device to solve the practical problem of real-time handwritten digit classification from mobile camera video feed.",
"corpus_id": 52124045,
"title": "FPGA Implementation of Convolutional Neural Networks with Fixed-Point Calculations"
} | {
"abstract": "A precision-scalable processor for low-power ConvNets or convolutional neural networks is implemented in a 40-nm CMOS technology. To minimize energy consumption while maintaining throughput, this paper is the first to implement dynamic precision and energy scaling and exploit the sparsity of convolutions in a dedicated processor architecture. The processor’s 256 parallel processing units achieve a peak 102 GOPS running at 204 MHz and 1.1 V. It is fully C-programmable through a custom generated compiler and consumes 25–287 mW at 204 MHz and a scaling efficiency between 0.3 and 2.7 effective TOPS/W. It achieves 47 frames/s on the convolutional layers of the AlexNet benchmark, consuming only 76 mW. This system hereby outperforms the state-of-the-art up to five times in energy efficiency.",
"corpus_id": 25957306,
"title": "An Energy-Efficient Precision-Scalable ConvNet Processor in 40-nm CMOS"
} | {
"abstract": "Machine ethics and robot rights are quickly becoming hot topics in artificial intelligence/robotics communities. We will argue that the attempts to allow machines to make ethical decisions or to have rights are misguided. Instead we propose a new science of safety engineering for intelligent artificial agents. In particular we issue a challenge to the scientific community to develop intelligent systems capable of proving that they are in fact safe even under recursive self-improvement.",
"corpus_id": 291308,
"score": -1,
"title": "Artificial Intelligence Safety Engineering: Why Machine Ethics Is a Wrong Approach."
} |
{
"abstract": "A Gram-staining-negative, rod-shaped and non-spore-forming bacterium, designated strain RG1-1(T), was isolated from Takakia lepidozioides collected from Gawalong glacier in Tibet, China, and characterized by using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. The predominant fatty acids of strain RG1-1(T) were iso-C(15 : 0) (19.8%), summed feature 3 (C(16 : 1)ω7c and/or C(16 : 1)ω6c, 17.0%), C(16 : 0 (9.9)%) and iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH (9.4%); its major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, four unidentified aminolipids, one unidentified phospholipid, one unidentified aminoglycolipid, one unidentified glycolipid, and three unidentified lipids. Strain RG1-1(T) contained MK-7 as the dominant menaquinone, and the G+C content of its genomic DNA was 49.1 mol%. Strain RG1-1(T) exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (91.8%) with Flavisolibacter ginsengiterrae Gsoil 492(T) and Flavisolibacter ginsengisoli Gsoil 643(T). Phylogenetic analysis showed that strain RG1-1(T) was a member of the family Chitinophagaceae, phylum Bacteroidetes. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, and phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data, strain RG1-1(T) is considered to represent a novel species of a novel genus, for which the name Cnuella takakiae gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is RG1-1(T) ( = CGMCC 1.12492(T) = DSM 26897(T)).",
"corpus_id": 2764142,
"title": "Cnuella takakiae gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the phylum Bacteroidetes isolated from Takakia lepidozioides."
} | {
"abstract": "A gram-reaction-negative, rod-shaped, gliding and bright-yellow-pigmented bacterial strain, designated JCN-23(T), was isolated from a soil sample collected from an arid area in Gansu Province in north-west China, and characterized by using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. This isolate grew optimally at 30 °C and in the absence of NaCl. The only respiratory quinone was menaquinone-7 and the major cellular fatty acids were iso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH, summed feature 9 (iso-C(17 : 1)ω9c and/or C(16 : 0) 10-methyl) and summed feature 3 (C(16 : 1)ω7c and/or C(16 : 1)ω6c). The only polyamine was homospermidine and the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. The DNA G+C content was 47.1 mol%. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain JCN-23(T) was a member of the phylum Bacteroidetes, exhibiting the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Flavitalea populi CCTCC AB 208255(T) (97.6 %). No other recognized bacterial species showed more than 93.4 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the novel isolate. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments showed a low level (26 %) of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain JCN-23(T) and F. populi CCTCC AB 208255(T). On the basis of the phenotypic and genotypic data and phylogenetic inference, strain JCN-23(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Flavitalea, for which the name Flavitalea gansuensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JCN-23(T) ( = ACCC 05418(T) = KCTC 23071(T)). Emended descriptions of the genus Flavitalea and Flavitalea populi are also proposed.",
"corpus_id": 12700401,
"title": "Flavitalea gansuensis sp. nov., isolated from soil from an arid area, and emended descriptions of the genus Flavitalea and Flavitalea populi."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract To study the high strain rate shear behaviour of Ti–6Al–4V, hat-shaped specimens have been used in a compression split Hopkinson bar set-up. With this technique, highly concentrated shear strains are obtained which eventually cause strain localization and adiabatic shear bands (ASB). Because of the complex stress distribution in the specimen, interpretation of the experimental results is not straightforward. In this paper, results of a comprehensive experimental and numerical study are presented, aiming at a more judicious use of hat-shaped specimens and a fundamental understanding of the obtained results. Specimens with different dimensions are considered. It is found that the width of the shear region and the radius of the corners are the most important parameters. The first mainly affects the homogeneity of stresses and deformations in the shear zone and the presence of a hydrostatic stress next to the shear stress, while the latter primarily governs the initiation of the ASB. The relation between the global measured response and the local material behaviour is studied. It is shown that, within certain limits, the shear stress in the shear region can be extracted from the measured force. Several experiments which have been interrupted at a certain level of deformation have been carried out. The microstructure could thus be observed at different stages: onset of strain localization, formation of ASBs, initiation and propagation of micro-cracks.",
"corpus_id": 137560391,
"score": 0,
"title": "The use of hat-shaped specimens to study the high strain rate shear behaviour of Ti–6Al–4V"
} |
{
"abstract": "Real time weather forecasting is a highly influential tool in decision making for agriculture. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be built to provide information about topographic data such as elevation and distance to oceans or water reservoirs. This data has begun to have increased availability, providing easier access for developing new applications. By using geographic information together with terrestrial measurements from weather stations, the spatial and temporal scales of the climatic variables can be analyzed by interpolation and forecasting. Most of the interpolation methods provided in common GIS tools are only related to the spatial domain, limiting its use in numerical modelling and prediction of climatic states. However, by adopting a Bayesian approach, it appears possible to estimate the dynamic behaviour of the unobserved climate pattern using a state-space representation. Using this framework, the ensemble Kalman filter or a more general sequential Monte Carlo method could be used for the estimation procedure. A wireless sensor network providing continuous data to populate such a model is described here for potential application of this approach.",
"corpus_id": 6168245,
"title": "Ensemble Interpolation Methods for Spatio-temporal Data Modelling"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper describes the selection of a state-space estimation method for application to the emerging research domain of agrometeorology. The work comes from a wider geocomputational research programme that relates to climate and environment monitoring and subsequent data analysis. In particular, the data currently being collected refers to meso-micro climates in vineyards across eight countries. It is terrestrial in kind, being in the context of near-ground truth continuous data. The time-related nature of the data, being continuous across a geospatial plane, gives rise to the need for mathematical models that are intrinsically spatio-temporal and while effective in their robust adequacy, are also computationally efficient. State-space models are considered a class of model within the time-series literature but they have some uniquely distinguishing features for continuous multivariate data representation. Ensemble Kalman Filter models are Bayesian based estimators of multiple realisations of statespaces over time, so are proposed here as applicable to this analytical process domain. Keywords-component; geocomputation; estimation; agronomy; meteorology; sensors; monitoring telemetry",
"corpus_id": 6567996,
"title": "A Precision Agronomic State-Space Estimation Method for Event Anticipation Using Dynamic Multivariate Continuous Data"
} | {
"abstract": "Tree–grass savannas are a widespread biome and are highly valued for their ecosystem services. There is a need to understand the long‐term dynamics and meteorological drivers of both tree and grass productivity separately in order to successfully manage savannas in the future. This study investigated the interannual variability (IAV) of tree and grass gross primary productivity (GPP) by combining a long‐term (15 year) eddy covariance flux record and model estimates of tree and grass GPP inferred from satellite remote sensing. On a seasonal basis, the primary drivers of tree and grass GPP were solar radiation in the wet season and soil moisture in the dry season. On an interannual basis, soil water availability had a positive effect on tree GPP and a negative effect on grass GPP. No linear trend in the tree–grass GPP ratio was observed over the 15‐year study period. However, the tree–grass GPP ratio was correlated with the modes of climate variability, namely the Southern Oscillation Index. This study has provided insight into the long‐term contributions of trees and grasses to savanna productivity, along with their respective meteorological determinants of IAV.",
"corpus_id": 3560847,
"score": 1,
"title": "Seasonal, interannual and decadal drivers of tree and grass productivity in an Australian tropical savanna"
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract The worlds’ oceans and seas have tremendous potential to contribute to the provision of food, feed, energy and natural resources. The emerging concepts of “Blue Growth” and “Blue Economy” have put the development of new marine industries on the political agenda. As marine industries expand, spatial interconnections and industry boundaries are being drawn and the potential for the combined use of marine space is being explored. The aim of this paper is to provide a single source document that summarizes the probable boundaries of marine growth industries, namely aquaculture; offshore wind energy with fixed foundations; floating offshore wind energy; tidal and wave energy; marine biotechnology, seabed mining; and tourism and recreation, based on depth and distance from the shore. This is an important first step in developing a single source document for marine industry boundaries that will help marine spatial planners and researchers develop innovative industry combinations to foster growth in the marine sector. This paper explores marine industry overlaps in four basins: European Atlantic, Baltic/North Sea, Mediterranean/Black Sea and the Caribbean/ Gulf of Mexico. By describing the geographical characteristics of different sea basins, this paper helps to focus marine governance strategies for stimulating combinations of marine industries towards the most promising areas. The methodology developed in this paper was also used to generate 72 country-specific maps and corresponding tables to support marine spatial planning processes at a national level.",
"corpus_id": 158863310,
"title": "Assessment of the geographical potential for co-use of marine space, based on operational boundaries for Blue Growth sectors"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract By 2050 the world population is expected to reach 10 billion people. This population needs food, water and energy. Increasingly, opportunities are sought out at sea to accommodate these needs. As there is already competition for space, especially in the near-shore, opportunities for multi-use, including the combination of, for example, food and energy production in a single location, are sought. One issue that needs to be addressed to allow for multi-use at sea is safety. Existing frameworks for (marine) risk assessment tend to be rather sector specific and, although existing models and frameworks for risk analysis provide useful elements for an integrated analysis, none of the approaches fully caters for the need of having a framework based on a cyclical process of stakeholder input in all steps of the process of risk identification, risk management and risk evaluation and communication, identifying actions to be taken and providing tools useful in each of the steps, while integrating the three perspectives of maritime safety, food (and feed) safety, and environmental impact assessment and the different perspectives of the actors involved. This study developed a common framework for the risk assessment of multi-use at sea, consisting of six steps (Exploring, Understanding, Appraising, Deciding, Implementing and Evaluating & Communication). The framework encompasses and integrates an analysis of food and feed safety aspects, the safety of people and equipment, and environmental safety aspects. For each step, actions are defined, tools that can be of help to stakeholders are presented, and stakeholder participation measures are described. The framework is iterative and dynamic in its nature; with constant communication and evaluation of progress, decisions can be taken to either take a step forward or back. The framework is developed to assist operators and producers, policymakers, and other stakeholders in assessing and managing risks of multi-use at sea.",
"corpus_id": 211386664,
"title": "Can multi-use of the sea be safe? A framework for risk assessment of multi-use at sea"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract A method has been developed whereby the survival of tumour cells irradiated in vivo can be measured in terms of their colony forming ability in vitro. Using this technique, survival curves have been constructed for tumours irradiated in various conditions of oxygenation. When tumours were exposed to two equal doses of radiation separated in time, cells were able to recover from their sub-lethal damage. The doses chosen were such that the ratio of surviving cells that were hypoxic at the time of the first dose of radiation to those that were well-oxygenated was at least 20 to 1. A consideration of the shapes of survival curves showed that not only were these hypoxic cells capable of recovery from sub-lethal damage, but they remained hypoxic for the time during which this process took place. The survival curve for cells from tumours exposed to a first dose of 1,000 rads and graded second doses five hours later confirmed this deduction.",
"corpus_id": 9854656,
"score": 1,
"title": "Recovery from sub-lethal damage by hypoxic tumour cells in vivo."
} |
{
"abstract": "In this era of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), the quest for understanding the genetic architecture of complex diseases is rapidly increasing more than ever before. The development of high throughput genotyping and next generation sequencing technologies enables genetic epidemiological analysis of large scale data. These advances have led to the identification of a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) responsible for disease susceptibility. The interactions between SNPs associated with complex diseases are increasingly being explored in the current literature. These interaction studies are mathematically challenging and computationally complex. These challenges have been addressed by a number of data mining and machine learning approaches. This paper reviews the current methods and the related software packages to detect the SNP interactions that contribute to diseases. The issues that need to be considered when developing these models are addressed in this review. The paper also reviews the achievements in data simulation to evaluate the performance of these models. Further, it discusses the future of SNP interaction analysis.",
"corpus_id": 5610994,
"title": "A review of machine learning and statistical approaches for detecting SNP interactions in high-dimensional genomic data."
} | {
"abstract": "Recently, the greatest statistical computational challenge in genetic epidemiology is to identify and characterize the genes that interact with other genes and environment factors that bring the effect on complex multifactorial disease. These gene-gene interactions are also denoted as epitasis in which this phenomenon cannot be solved by traditional statistical method due to the high dimensionality of the data and the occurrence of multiple polymorphism. Hence, there are several machine learning methods to solve such problems by identifying such susceptibility gene which are neural networks (NNs), support vector machine (SVM), and random forests (RFs) in such common and multifactorial disease. This paper gives an overview on machine learning methods, describing the methodology of each machine learning methods and its application in detecting gene-gene and gene-environment interactions. Lastly, this paper discussed each machine learning method and presents the strengths and weaknesses of each machine learning method in detecting gene-gene interactions in complex human disease.",
"corpus_id": 105122,
"title": "A Review for Detecting Gene-Gene Interactions Using Machine Learning Methods in Genetic Epidemiology"
} | {
"abstract": "As a promising tool for identifying genetic markers underlying phenotypic differences, genome-wide association study (GWAS) has been extensively investigated in recent years. In GWAS, detecting epistasis (or gene–gene interaction) is preferable over single locus study since many diseases are known to be complex traits. A brute force search is infeasible for epistasis detection in the genome-wide scale because of the intensive computational burden. Existing epistasis detection algorithms are designed for dataset consisting of homozygous markers and small sample size. In human study, however, the genotype may be heterozygous, and number of individuals can be up to thousands. Thus, existing methods are not readily applicable to human datasets. In this article, we propose an efficient algorithm, TEAM, which significantly speeds up epistasis detection for human GWAS. Our algorithm is exhaustive, i.e. it does not ignore any epistatic interaction. Utilizing the minimum spanning tree structure, the algorithm incrementally updates the contingency tables for epistatic tests without scanning all individuals. Our algorithm has broader applicability and is more efficient than existing methods for large sample study. It supports any statistical test that is based on contingency tables, and enables both family-wise error rate and false discovery rate controlling. Extensive experiments show that our algorithm only needs to examine a small portion of the individuals to update the contingency tables, and it achieves at least an order of magnitude speed up over the brute force approach. Contact: xiang@cs.unc.edu",
"corpus_id": 2172280,
"score": -1,
"title": "TEAM: efficient two-locus epistasis tests in human genome-wide association study"
} |
{
"abstract": "The graphical relaxation of the Traveling Salesman Problem is the relaxation obtained by requiring that the salesman visit each city at least once instead of exactly once. This relaxation has already led to a better understanding of the Traveling Salesman polytope in Cornuéjols, Fonlupt and Naddef (1985). We show here how one can compose facet-inducing inequalities for the graphical traveling salesman polyhedron, and obtain other facet-inducing inequalities. This leads to new valid inequalities for the Symmetric Traveling Salesman polytope. This paper is the first of a series of three papers on the Symmetric Traveling Salesman polytope, the next one studies the strong relationship between that polytope and its graphical relaxation, and the last one applies all the theoretical developments of the two first papers to prove some new facet-inducing results.",
"corpus_id": 989582,
"title": "The symmetric traveling salesman polytope and its graphical relaxation: Composition of valid inequalities"
} | {
"abstract": "Combinatorial optimization games form an important subclass of cooperative games. In recent years, increased attention has been given to the issue of finding good cost shares for such games. In this paper, we define a very general class of games, called integer minimization games, which includes the combinatorial optimization games in the literature as special cases. We then present new techniques, based on row and column generation, for computing good cost shares for these games. To illustrate the power of these techniques, we apply them to traveling salesman and vehicle routing games. Our results generalize and unify several results in the literature. The main underlying idea is that suitable valid inequalities for the associated combinatorial optimization problems can be used to derive improved cost shares.",
"corpus_id": 2510276,
"title": "New techniques for cost sharing in combinatorial optimization games"
} | {
"abstract": "Keyword search is a popular technique for querying the ever increasing repositories of RDF graph data because it frees the user from knowing a formal query language and the structure of the data. However, the imprecision of keyword queries results in overwhelming numbers of candidate results making the identification of relevant results challenging and hindering the scalability of the query evaluation algorithms.",
"corpus_id": 35246719,
"score": 1,
"title": "Incorporating Cohesiveness into Keyword Search on Linked Data"
} |
{
"abstract": "Although the grapevine is an inevitable part of organizational behavior, we know very little about how managers perceive the characteristics and functioning of this informal communication network. A survey was developed to examine managers' perceptions of the factors associated with grapevine activity. Of particular interest was to determine the extent managers' positions within the organization affects their perceptions of grapevine activity. The results demonstrate that 92.4% of companies surveyed had no policy to deal with the grapevine, and managers and organizations usually didn't take an active role in managing/controlling informal communication networks. The results also indicated that the managers' level of knowledge about grapevine characteristics, causes, and outcomes was affected by their organizational position. Finally, specific conditions are discussed that impact grapevine activity.",
"corpus_id": 153490945,
"title": "The Informal Communication Network: Factors Influencing Grapevine Activity"
} | {
"abstract": "Nurse leaders need effective communication models to articulate the functions, processes, and activities of health care organizations. This article describes the development and use of a communication model to streamline the dissemination of information to the targeted organizational entities that need it. The model's step-by-step process enhances the broadcasting of information needed to ensure patient safety and promote quality patient care by capturing the components integral to the communication process.",
"corpus_id": 26934377,
"title": "An Innovative Communication Model to Disseminate Information"
} | {
"abstract": "Future multi-tier communication networks will require enhanced network capacity and reduced overhead. In the absence of Channel State Information (CSI) at the transmitters, Blind Interference Alignment (BIA) and Topological Interference Management (TIM) can achieve optimal Degrees of Freedom (DoF), minimising network's overhead. In addition, Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) can increase the sum rate of the network, compared to orthogonal radio access techniques currently adopted by 4G networks. Our contribution is two interference management schemes, BIA and a hybrid TIM-NOMA scheme, employed in heterogeneous networks by applying user-pairing and Kronecker Product representation. BIA manages inter- and intra-cell interference by antenna selection and appropriate message scheduling. The hybrid scheme manages intra-cell interference based on NOMA and inter-cell interference based on TIM. We show that both schemes achieve at least double the rate of TDMA. The hybrid scheme always outperforms TDMA and BIA in terms of Degrees of Freedom (DoF). Comparing the two proposed schemes, BIA achieves more DoF than TDMA under certain restrictions, and provides better Bit-Error-Rate (BER) and sum rate performance to macrocell users, whereas the hybrid scheme improves the performance of femtocell users.",
"corpus_id": 16767890,
"score": 1,
"title": "Interference Management in Heterogeneous Networks with Blind Transmitters"
} |
{
"abstract": "BackgroundMild cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) hypovolemia is a well-known clinical entity, but critical CSF hypovolemia that can cause transtentorial herniation is an unusual and rare clinical entity that occurs after craniotomy. We investigated CSF hypovolemia after microsurgical aneurysmal clipping for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).MethodThis study included 144 consecutive patients with SAH. Lumbar drainage (LD) was inserted after general anesthesia or postoperatively as a standard perioperative protocol. CSF hypovolemia diagnosis was based on three criteria.ResultsEleven patients (7.6 %) were diagnosed with CSF hypovolemia according to diagnostic criteria in a postoperative range of 0–8 days. In all patients, signs or symptoms of CSF hypovolemia improved within 24 hours by clamping LD and using the Trendelenburg position.ConclusionsAs a cause of acute clinical deterioration after aneurysmal clipping, CSF hypovolemia is likely under-recognized, and may actually be misdiagnosed as vasospasm or brain swelling. We should always take the etiology of CSF hypovolemia into consideration, and especially pay attention in patients with pneumocephalus and subdural fluid collection alongside brain sag on computed tomography. These patients are at higher risk developing of pressure gradients between their cranial and spinal compartments, and therefore, brain sagging after LD, than after ventricular drainage. We should be vigilant to strictly manage LD so as not to produce high pressure gradients.",
"corpus_id": 862885,
"title": "Early awareness of cerebrospinal fluid hypovolemia after craniotomy for microsurgical aneurysmal clipping"
} | {
"abstract": "OBJECT\nCerebrospinal fluid hypotension, or \"brain sag,\" is a recently described phenomenon most commonly seen following craniotomy for the clipping of ruptured aneurysms along with preoperative lumbar drain placement. The clinical features and CT findings have been previously described. Clinical presentation can be similar to and often mistaken for cerebral vasospasm. In this study, the authors report on the angiographic findings in patients with brain sag.\n\n\nMETHODS\nFive cases of brain sag were diagnosed (range 1-4 days) after the surgical treatment of ruptured aneurysms at the University of Illinois at Chicago. All patients met the clinical and CT criteria for brain sag. Admission cerebral angiograms and subsequent angiograms during symptoms of brain sag were obtained in all patients. In 3 patients, angiography was performed after the resolution of symptoms.\n\n\nRESULTS\nIn all 5 patients, the level of the basilar artery apex was displaced inferiorly with respect to the posterior clinoid processes during brain sag. This displacement was significant enough to create a noticeable kink in the basilar artery (\"cobra sign\") in 3 patients. Other angiographic findings included foreshortening or kinking of the intracranial vertebral artery. In all patients, the posterior cerebral arteries were displaced medially and inferiorly. Three patients were treated for simultaneous severe radiological vasospasm. In 4 patients, the brain sag was recognized, and the patients' conditions improved when they were placed flat or in the Trendelenburg position, at times combined with an epidural blood patch. Patients with follow-up angiography studies after the symptoms had resolved displayed a reversal of the angiographic features.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nBrain sag appears to be associated with characteristic angiographic features. Recognizing these features may help to diagnose brain sag as the cause of neurological deterioration in this patient population.",
"corpus_id": 3173117,
"title": "Angiographic features of \"brain sag\"."
} | {
"abstract": "The authors use three duration models to estimate the effects of disability benefits on the hazard of returning to work and on the expected duration of work absences. The results show that disincentives exist even when disability benefits are not conditioned on the recipient remaining out of work. In addition, blacks and women are found to be absent longer than white men. Durations of work absences are also influenced by available wages, the type and severity of injury, the physical demands of the jobs for which the worker is qualified, and the willingness of employers to help the worker return to work. Copyright 1990 by MIT Press.",
"corpus_id": 154763363,
"score": 0,
"title": "The Duration of Post-injury Absences from Work"
} |
{
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Objective: to identify and synthesize the evidence from randomized clinical trials that tested the effectiveness of traditional Chinese acupuncture in relation to sham acupuncture for the treatment of hot flashes in menopausal women with breast cancer. Method: systematic review guided by the recommendations of the Cochrane Collaboration. Citations were searched in the following databases: MEDLINE via PubMed, Web of Science, CENTRAL, CINAHL, and LILACS. A combination of the following keywords was used: breast neoplasm, acupuncture, acupuncture therapy, acupuncture points, placebos, sham treatment, hot flashes, hot flushes, menopause, climacteric, and vasomotor symptoms. Results: a total of 272 studies were identified, five of which were selected and analyzed. Slight superiority of traditional acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture was observed; however, there were no strong statistical associations. Conclusions: the evidence gathered was not sufficient to affirm the effectiveness of traditional acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture.",
"corpus_id": 230583,
"title": "Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture versus Sham Acupuncture: a Systematic Review"
} | {
"abstract": "Hot flushes are common and distressing in postmenopausal women. Treatment with oestrogens carries significant health risks. The current hypothesis for their mechanism involves a narrowing of the thermoneutral zone, which may be counteracted by interventions that increase oestrogen, endorphin or serotonin levels, or decrease noradrenalin levels. Acupuncture has several mechanisms with the potential to reduce hot flush frequency and severity. This article reviews the current clinical trial literature. Sixteen studies are included in the review. Three studies comparing acupuncture with no specific therapy show that acupuncture treatment leads to a reduction of around 50% in hot flush frequency. There were seven comparisons between acupuncture and other therapy: three showed acupuncture to have a significantly smaller effect on frequency than oestrogen therapy, two found a similar effect to relaxation, one found a significantly greater effect than the food supplement oryzanol, and one was unclear. Out of seven studies that compared acupuncture with some other form of needle penetration, whether superficial or deep and whether on or off acupuncture points, five showed no effect, one showed an effect on frequency, and another on severity but not frequency. These studies provide little support for a point specific effect of acupuncture in this condition. Two studies compared acupuncture with non-penetrating, blunt needles: one was significantly positive for flush severity but not frequency, and the other showed no effect. In conclusion, the results from all studies are in agreement with the hypothesis that acupuncture needling relieves hot flushes. There are few data however supporting the hypothesis that the effect of acupuncture is point specific. Future research should investigate whether there is a biological effect of needling on hot flushes or not, whether tailored treatment is superior to standardised treatment, and ways of delivering treatment that causes least discomfort and least cost.",
"corpus_id": 2504417,
"title": "Menopausal problems and acupuncture"
} | {
"abstract": "Objective: The previously published Acupuncture on Hot Flashes Among Menopausal Women study compared the effectiveness of individualized acupuncture treatment plus self-care versus self-care alone on hot flashes and health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women. This article reports on the observational follow-up results at 6 and 12 months. Methods: The Acupuncture on Hot Flashes Among Menopausal Women study was a pragmatic, multicenter randomized controlled trial with two parallel arms, conducted in 2006 to 2007. The 267 participants were postmenopausal women experiencing, on average, 12.6 hot flashes per 24 h. The acupuncture group received 10 individualized acupuncture treatments during 12 weeks and advice on self-care, whereas the control group received only advice on self-care. Hot flash frequency and intensity (0-10 scale) and hours of sleep per night were registered in a diary. Health-related quality of life was assessed by the Women's Health Questionnaire. Results: From baseline to 6 months, the mean reduction in hot flash frequency per 24 hours was 5.3 in the acupuncture group and 5.0 in the control group, a nonsignificant difference of 0.3. At 12 months, the mean reduction in hot flash frequency was 6.0 in the acupuncture group and 5.8 in the control group, a nonsignificant difference of 0.2. Differences in quality-of-life scores were not statistically significant at 6 and 12 months. Conclusion: The statistically significant differences between the study groups found at 12 weeks were no longer present at 6 and 12 months. Acupuncture can contribute to a more rapid reduction in vasomotor symptoms and increase in health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women but probably has no long-term effects.",
"corpus_id": 21124423,
"score": 2,
"title": "The Acupuncture on Hot Flashes Among Menopausal Women study: observational follow-up results at 6 and 12 months"
} |
{
"abstract": "A prototype amperometric immunosensor was evaluated based on the adsorption of antibodies onto perpendicularly oriented assemblies of single wall carbon nanotubes called SWNT forests. The forests were self-assembled from oxidatively shortened SWNTs onto Nafion/iron oxide coated pyrolytic graphite electrodes. The nanotube forests were characterized using atomic force microscopy and resonance Raman spectroscopy. Anti-biotin antibody strongly adsorbed to the SWNT forests. In the presence of a soluble mediator, the detection limit for horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labeled biotin was 2.5 pmol ml(-1) (2.5 nM). Unlabelled biotin was detected in a competitive approach with a detection limit of 16 nmol ml(-1) (16 microM) and a relative standard deviation of 12%. The immunosensor showed low non-specific adsorption of biotin-HRP (approx. 0.1%) when blocked with bovine serum albumin. This immunosensing approach using high surface area, patternable, conductive SWNT assemblies may eventually prove useful for nano-biosensing arrays.",
"corpus_id": 8383858,
"title": "Mediated amperometric immunosensing using single walled carbon nanotube forests."
} | {
"abstract": "The concept of recognition and biofunctionality has attracted increasing interest in the fields of chemistry and material sciences. Advances in the field of nanotechnology for the synthesis of desired metal oxide nanostructures have provided a solid platform for the integration of nanoelectronic devices. These nanoelectronics-based devices have the ability to recognize molecular species of living organisms, and they have created the possibility for advanced chemical sensing functionalities with low limits of detection in the nanomolar range. In this review, various metal oxides, such as ZnO-, CuO-, and NiO-based nanosensors, are described using different methods (receptors) of functionalization for molecular and ion recognition. These functionalized metal oxide surfaces with a specific receptor involve either a complex formation between the receptor and the analyte or an electrostatic interaction during the chemical sensing of analytes. Metal oxide nanostructures are considered revolutionary nanomaterials that have a specific surface for the immobilization of biomolecules with much needed orientation, good conformation and enhanced biological activity which further improve the sensing properties of nanosensors. Metal oxide nanostructures are associated with certain unique optical, electrical and molecular characteristics in addition to unique functionalities and surface charge features which shows attractive platforms for interfacing biorecognition elements with effective transducing properties for signal amplification. There is a great opportunity in the near future for metal oxide nanostructure-based miniaturization and the development of engineering sensor devices.",
"corpus_id": 1501498,
"title": "Metal Oxide Nanosensors Using Polymeric Membranes, Enzymes and Antibody Receptors as Ion and Molecular Recognition Elements"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Vanadium oxide nanotube is a new type of nanotubular material which opens new horizons for application in many areas. The important catalytic and electrochemical property of vanadium oxide as well as the unique shape of the nanotubes has been the impetus for studying this novel type of nanostructured material. The paper review focuses on recent advances of synthesis vanadium oxide nanotubes. Methods of synthesis vanadium oxide nanotubes (sol-gel, hydrothermal) of nanostructured-based on electrochemical and catalytic processes and metal dichalcogenides, Inorganic nanotubes, and oxide and hydroxide nanotubes and details the synthesis and structural properties of vanadium oxides get are reviewed.",
"corpus_id": 104450804,
"score": 1,
"title": "Recent advances in synthesis, properties, and applications of vanadium oxide nanotube"
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper reports a study of the combined effect of driver age and engine size on accident severity and at-fault risk of young riders of two-wheelers. Data from the national accident database of Greece are used to calculate accident severity and relative fault risk rates. The induced exposure technique is applied due to the lack of exposure data. A log-linear analysis is then used to examine first- and second-order effects within three-variable groups. Accident severity modelling revealed a significant second-order interaction between severity, driver age and two-wheeler engine size. On the contrary, no second-order effects were identified in fault risk modelling. Moreover, a significant effect of driver age on accident fault risk was identified. The effect of engine size was not significant.",
"corpus_id": 2523492,
"title": "Driver age and vehicle engine size effects on fault and severity in young motorcyclists accidents."
} | {
"abstract": "Industry statistics suggest that motorcycle owners in the United States are getting older. Our objective was to analyze the effect of this demographic shift on injuries and outcomes after a motorcycle crash. Injured motorcyclists aged 17 to 89 years in the National Trauma Databank were reviewed from 1996 to 2005. Age trends and injury patterns were assessed over time. Injury Severity Score (ISS), length of stay (LOS), intensive care unit (ICU) use, comorbidities, complications, mortality, injury patterns, helmet use, and alcohol use were compared for subjects 40 and older versus those younger than 40 years old. There were 61,689 subjects included. Over the study period, the mean age increased from 33.9 to 39.1 years (P < 0.01), and the proportion of subjects 40 years of age or older increased from 27.9 to 48.3 per cent. ISS, LOS, ICU LOS, and mortality were higher in the 40 years of age or older group (P ≤ 0.01). The rates of admission to the ICU (32.3 vs. 27.3%), pre-existing comorbidities (20 vs. 9.7%), and complications (7.6 vs. 5.5%) were all higher in the 40 years of age and older group (P < 0.01). The average age of the injured motorcyclist is increasing. Older riders’ injuries appear more serious, and their hospital course is more likely to be challenged by comorbidities and complications contributing to poorer outcomes. Motorcycle safety education and training initiatives should be expanded to specifically target older motorcyclists.",
"corpus_id": 632776,
"title": "The Aging Road Warrior: National Trend toward Older Riders Impacts Outcome after Motorcycle Injury"
} | {
"abstract": "A statistical model was developed to explain the relationship between types of crashes and injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents. By using techniques of categorical data analysis and comprehensive data on crashes in Hawaii during 1990, a model was built to relate the type of crash (e.g., rollover, head-on, sideswipe, rear-end, etc.) to a KABCO injury scale. An \"odds multiplier\" was developed that enabled comparison according to crash type of the odds of particular levels of injury relative to noninjury. The effects of seat belt use on injury level also were examined, and interactions among belt use, crash type, and injury level were considered. Differences between crash types and the effectiveness of seat belts are discussed along with how log-linear analysis, logit modeling, and estimation of \"odds multipliers\" may contribute to traffic safety research. Some implications of the findings for appropriate interventions and future research are presented in a concluding section.",
"corpus_id": 106452291,
"score": 2,
"title": "ANALYZING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRASH TYPES AND INJURIES IN MOTOR VEHICLE COLLISIONS IN HAWAII"
} |
{
"abstract": "In this manuscript, we introduce a real-time motion planning system based on the Baidu Apollo (open source) autonomous driving platform. The developed system aims to address the industrial level-4 motion planning problem while considering safety, comfort and scalability. The system covers multilane and single-lane autonomous driving in a hierarchical manner: (1) The top layer of the system is a multilane strategy that handles lane-change scenarios by comparing lane-level trajectories computed in parallel. (2) Inside the lane-level trajectory generator, it iteratively solves path and speed optimization based on a Frenet frame. (3) For path and speed optimization, a combination of dynamic programming and spline-based quadratic programming is proposed to construct a scalable and easy-to-tune framework to handle traffic rules, obstacle decisions and smoothness simultaneously. The planner is scalable to both highway and lower-speed city driving scenarios. We also demonstrate the algorithm through scenario illustrations and on-road test results. The system described in this manuscript has been deployed to dozens of Baidu Apollo autonomous driving vehicles since Apollo v1.5 was announced in September 2017. As of May 16th, 2018, the system has been tested under 3,380 hours and approximately 68,000 kilometers (42,253 miles) of closed-loop autonomous driving under various urban scenarios. The algorithm described in this manuscript is available at https://github.com/ApolloAuto/apollo/tree/master/modules/planning.",
"corpus_id": 49902052,
"title": "Baidu Apollo EM Motion Planner"
} | {
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 16143233,
"title": "Practical Search Techniques in Path Planning for Autonomous Driving"
} | {
"abstract": "Healthcare robots will be the next big advance in humans’ domestic welfare, with robots able to assist elderly people and users with disabilities. However, each user has his/her own preferences, needs and abilities. Therefore, robotic assistants will need to adapt to them, behaving accordingly. Towards this goal, we propose a method to perform behavior adaptation to the user preferences, using symbolic task planning. A user model is built from the user’s answers to simple questions with a fuzzy inference system, and it is then integrated into the planning domain. We describe an adaptation method based on both the user satisfaction and the execution outcome, depending on which penalizations are applied to the planner’s rules. We demonstrate the application of the adaptation method in a simple shoe-fitting scenario, with experiments performed in a simulated user environment. The results show quick behavior adaptation, even when the user behavior changes, as well as robustness to wrong inference of the initial user model. Finally, some insights in a non-simulated world shoe-fitting setup are also provided.",
"corpus_id": 5032111,
"score": -1,
"title": "Adapting robot task planning to user preferences: an assistive shoe dressing example"
} |
{
"abstract": "Total tract apparent digestibility of dietary fibrous components and parameters of the faecal digestive ecosystem were compared at immediate and late post-weaning periods using five foals. The foals were abruptly weaned (day 0) from their mares at 6 months of age. Immediately (day 0 to day 14) and later (day 131 to day 194) after weaning, foals received the same basal diet consisting of hay and pellets. Pellets were fed at 0.36% BW. Hay was offered ad libitum and corresponded to 120% of the average voluntary hay intake measured individually during the immediate (days 1 to 4) and late (days 180 to 183) post-weaning periods. Total feed intake was measured during the two post-weaning periods (from days 7 to 10 and from days 187 to 190). Total tract apparent digestibility of DM, organic matter (OM), NDF and ADF was assessed using a 4-day partial collection of faeces (from days 8 to 11 and from days 188 to 191). Major bacterial groups in faeces, Fibrobacter succinogenes, DM, pH and volatile fatty acids were quantified at days -1, 1, 3, 7, 14 and 180. During the post-weaning period, minor changes were observed in the composition and activity of the faecal microbiota. The amylolytic count in faeces decreased immediately after weaning (between days 1 and 7) (P<0.05). Later (from days 14 to 180), the molar proportion of propionate decreased (P=0.03). The limited alteration seen in the hindgut ecosystem was probably due to the fact that the foals had undergone a gradual dietary transition from milk to solid feed before weaning. Such conclusions have also been reported in other animal species. Between the immediate and late post-weaning periods, the average daily feed intake and the digestibility coefficients of DM, OM, NDF and ADF increased (P<0.05). These results could suggest an increase in the fibre-degrading capacity of foals after weaning.",
"corpus_id": 1593172,
"title": "Comparative fibre-degrading capacity in foals at immediate and late post-weaning periods."
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Detection and quantification of cellulolytic bacteria with oligonucleotide probes showed that Ruminococcus flavefaciens was the predominant species in the pony and donkey cecum. Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus albus were present at low levels. Four isolates, morphologically resembling R. flavefaciens, differed from ruminal strains by their carbohydrate utilization and their end products of cellobiose fermentation.",
"corpus_id": 36586543,
"title": "Identification of Ruminococcus flavefaciens as the Predominant Cellulolytic Bacterial Species of the Equine Cecum"
} | {
"abstract": "A total of 114 bacterial isolates were obtained from the cecal contents of two mature cecally fistulated horses on a habitat-simulating medium containing 40% energy-depleted cecal fluid. Of these isolates, 108 were maintained in pure cultures and were tentatively grouped on the basis of cell morphology and physiological characteristics. Gram-negative rods (50.9%), gram-positive rods (22.8%), and gram-positive cocci (21.9%) represented the largest groups isolated from these animals. Fifty isolates were tested for their ability to grow in media containing urea, ammonia, peptones, or amino acids as sole nitrogen sources. None of the isolates had a unique requirement for urea or ammonia since nitrogen derived from peptones, amino acids, or both supported growth as well as did ammonia or urea in a low nitrogen medium. Of the cecal isolates, 18% were able to use urea for growth, and 20.5% were able to grow with ammonia as the sole nitrogen source. All organisms grew in the experimental media containing peptones as the sole nitrogen source. Urease activity was detected in only 2 of 114 isolates tested. The inability of isolates to use urea or ammonia as nitrogen sources may have been a reflection of growth conditions in the habitat-stimulating medium used for isolation, but it could also suggest that many cecal bacteria require nitrogen sources other then ammonia or urea for growth.",
"corpus_id": 43544497,
"score": 2,
"title": "Nitrogen utilization in bacterial isolates from the equine cecum"
} |
{
"abstract": "CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) are synthetic DNA sequences that mimic bacterial DNA, and bind to the TLR9 receptor. The cells that express TLR9, B cells and dendritic cells, are stimulated by CpG ODN and induce innate and acquired immune responses. Because CpG ODN induce antigen-independent immune activation there has been much interest in the possibility that they may break self tolerance. To test this hypothesis we used a tolerance model with hen egg lysozyme (HEL)-transgenic (Tg) mice, anti-HEL Ig-Tg mice and double (Dbl)-Tg mice injected with CpG ODN alone or together with HEL self antigen. When cultured in vitro, tolerant B cells responded to CpG ODN in a similar way as the non-tolerant Ig-Tg B cells in terms of cell proliferation, NFkappaB activation and CD69 expression. Despite these potent in vitro stimulatory effects of CpG ODN alone, HEL-Tg mice injected with CpG ODN alone, or in combination with low dose antigen (4 microg HEL), surprisingly did not produce any detectable anti-HEL Ab. However, HEL-Tg or Dbl-Tg mice immunized with CpG ODN plus higher doses of self antigen showed strong antigen-specific humoral responses. Surprisingly, control non-CpG ODN also had partial activity for breaking tolerance and inducing autoantibody production when administered in combination with self antigen, though not when used alone. Despite the production of high titers of anti-HEL Ab in the immunized HEL-Tg mice, no evidence of autoimmune disease was detected. We conclude that immunization with CpG or control ODN in the presence of a high dose of exogenous self antigen, but not treatment with ODN alone, can break tolerance to self antigen without inducing autoimmune disease in this system.",
"corpus_id": 884362,
"title": "Induction of autoantibody production but not autoimmune disease in HEL transgenic mice vaccinated with HEL in combination with CpG or control oligodeoxynucleotides."
} | {
"abstract": "PRODUCTION of autoantibodies, which characterizes most autoimmune diseases, is normally avoided by active elimination1–7 or functional inactivation (anergy) 8–15 of B and T lymphocytes bearing receptors for self antigens. The mechanisms leading to the escape of self-reactive clones from these normal tolerance mechanisms in autoimmune diseases nevertheless remain obscure. Here, we demonstrate that clonal anergy in B lymphocytes is a reversible process, and that silenced self-reactive B cells can be reactivated under particular conditions to give rise to vigorous antibody responses. Reactivation of anergic lymphocytes may explain many examples of transient autoimmune reactions in normal individuals, and may under pathological conditions be important in the development of chronic autoimmune disease.",
"corpus_id": 4027631,
"title": "Breakdown of self-tolerance in anergic B lymphocytes"
} | {
"abstract": "MHC class I-restricted T cell epitopes lack immunogenicity unless aided by IFA or CFA. In an attempt to circumvent the known inflammatory side effects of IFA and CFA, we analyzed the ability of immunostimulatory CpG-DNA to act as an adjuvant for MHC class I-restricted peptide epitopes. Using the immunodominant CD8 T cell epitopes, SIINFEKL from OVA or KAVYNFATM (gp33) from lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus glycoprotein, we observed that CpG-DNA conveyed immunogenicity to these epitopes leading to primary induction of peptide-specific CTL. Furthermore, vaccination with the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus gp33 peptide triggered not only CTL but also protective antiviral defense. We also showed that MHC class I-restricted peptides are constitutively presented by immature dendritic cells (DC) within the draining lymph nodes but failed to induce CTL responses. The use of CpG-DNA as an adjuvant, however, initiated peptide presenting immature DC progression to professional licensed APC. Activated DC induced cytolytic CD8 T cells in wild-type mice and also mice deficient of Th cells or CD40 ligand. CpG-DNA thus incites CTL responses toward MHC class I-restricted T cell epitopes in a Th cell-independent manner. Overall, these results provide new insights into CpG-DNA-mediated adjuvanticity and may influence future vaccination strategies for infectious and perhaps tumor diseases.",
"corpus_id": 36386287,
"score": 2,
"title": "CpG-DNA Activates In Vivo T Cell Epitope Presenting Dendritic Cells to Trigger Protective Antiviral Cytotoxic T Cell Responses1"
} |
{
"abstract": "Rhodocodon madagascariensis, also named Urginea mascarenensis, is a malagasy plant belonging to the Hyacinthaceae family. As for the other members of the endemic malagasy genus Rhodocodon, the chemical and toxicological properties of this species have not yet been studied. The present study concerns the analysis of the toxicity of R. madagascariensis to medaka embryo-larval development. The incubation of medaka fish embryos or larvae in a medium containing R. madagascariensis extract resulted in a dose dependent reduction in development of embryos leading to lethality and a drastic reduction in survival rate of exposed larvae. Survival rates were reduced up to 100% with an extract concentration of 4 mg mL(-1). The LD(50) was estimated to be 1 mg mL(-1). Anatomopathological studies did show some neuro-embryonal modifications in the encephalic region. The data presented in this paper thus extends the use of medaka embryos as a valuable model to detect and analyse the effects of plant toxins.",
"corpus_id": 501359,
"title": "Effects of Rhodocodon madagascariensis extracts on embryo-larval development of medaka fish, Oryzias latipes."
} | {
"abstract": "THE isolation of rubellin from Urginea rubella by me was mentioned by Sapeika1. Compared with ouabain, standard strophanthidin B.P. 1932, lanatoside C, digoxin, and digitoxin, rubellin is the most active glycoside2.",
"corpus_id": 4082276,
"title": "Two New Cardiac Glycosides, Rubellin and Transvaalin, from South African Species of Urginea"
} | {
"abstract": "The cyclic peptide hepatotoxins microcystin-LR, 7-desmethyl-microcystin-RR and nodularin are potent inhibitors of the protein phosphatases type 1 and type 2A. Their potency of inhibition resembles calyculin-A and to a lesser extent okadaic acid. These hepatotoxins increase the overall level of protein phosphorylation in hepatocytes. Evidence is presented to indicate that in hepatocytes the morphological changes and effects on the cytoskeleton are due to phosphatase inhibition. The potency of these compounds in inducing hepatocyte deformation is similar to their potency in inhibiting phosphatase activity. These results suggest that the hepatotoxicity of these peptides is related to inhibition of phosphatases, and further indicate the importance of the protein phosphorylation in maintenance of structural and homeostatic integrity in these cells.",
"corpus_id": 8382818,
"score": 2,
"title": "Hepatocyte deformation induced by cyanobacterial toxins reflects inhibition of protein phosphatases."
} |
{
"abstract": "Brain-computer interfaces are commonly proposed to assist individuals with locked-in syndrome to interact with the world around them. In this paper, we present a pipeline to move from recorded brain signals to real-time classification on a low-power platform, such as IBM's TrueNorth Neurosynaptic System. Our results on a EEG-based hand squeeze task show that using a convolutional neural network and a time preserving signal representation strategy provides a good balance between high accuracy and feasibility in a real-time application. This pathway can be adapted to the management of a variety of conditions, including spinal cord injury, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.",
"corpus_id": 2194333,
"title": "TrueNorth-enabled real-time classification of EEG data for brain-computer interfacing"
} | {
"abstract": "This work describes a generalized method for classifying motor-related neural signals for a brain-computer interface (BCI), based on a stochastic machine learning method. The method differs from the various feature extraction and selection techniques employed in many other BCI systems. The classifier does not use extensive a-priori information, resulting in reduced reliance on highly specific domain knowledge. Instead of pre-defining features, the time-domain signal is input to a population of multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs) in order to perform a stochastic search for the best structure. The results showed that the average performance of the new algorithm outperformed other published methods using the Berlin BCI IV (2008) competition dataset and was comparable to the best results in the Berlin BCI II (2002–3) competition dataset. The new method was also applied to electroencephalography (EEG) data recorded from five subjects undertaking a hand squeeze task and demonstrated high levels of accuracy with a mean classification accuracy of 78.9% after five-fold cross-validation. Our new approach has been shown to give accurate results across different motor tasks and signal types as well as between subjects.",
"corpus_id": 9052691,
"title": "A Generalizable Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Using Machine Learning for Feature Discovery"
} | {
"abstract": "This research advances the state of the image-based visual servoing (IBVS) of robotic arms to handle very large visual errors without the camera advance/retreat problem. Conventional visual servoing schemes either consist of a partitioned or a switched system that relies on the feature Jacobian to find a unique feature for partitioning control along the specific DoF. We suggest a new IBVS scheme based on part-manipulator Jacobian approach for building a hybrid switched-partitioned task jacobian without the need to define new features. Utilizing this computationally efficient, directly defined Part-manipulator Jacobian an efficient second order minimization(ESM) based adaptive switching controller was constructed. The proposed scheme was tested in the eye-in-hand configuration on a 6-DoF simulated robotic arm and a 7-DoF real robotic arm for a set of large visual errors between the initial and the desired frames, including a rotational error of 180° around the camera optical axis. Compared to other IBVS schemes under various simulation conditions, the performance of the proposed scheme remained superior to that of the Jacobian-pseudo-inverse and other ESM-based IBVS schemes. The experimental results showed a notable expansion of the convergence zone up to 180° rotational errors with a 40% improvement in the convergence rates with a significant 90% reduction in the joint velocities and joint energies required to complete the task. The proposed controller possesses no camera advance/retreat motion, has a task Jacobian matrix that is well-conditioned, and it is computationally efficient. Moreover, the method is independent of the robot’s DoF and is extendable to other visual servoing schemes.",
"corpus_id": 252035403,
"score": 1,
"title": "Visual Error Constraint Free Visual Servoing Using Novel Switched Part Jacobian Control"
} |
{
"abstract": "Key messageFir undergrowth under forest canopy forms the xylorhizome, which allows a long time to exist in pessimal conditions and to compete with nemoral species.AbstractThis work is devoted to studying features of Siberian fir (Abies sibirica Ledeb.) in the first stages of ontogeny in different forest conditions. We have shown that in determining biological (exact) age of the plant, researchers should consider the xylorhizome formation. While studying the growth dynamics of the shoot, we identified three periods of accelerated growth, which correspond to increased competition from different layers of grassy vegetation. The change in fir growth rates was associated with the growth of the lateral and pseudo-whorl shoots, leading to the increased assimilating surface of the needles. These regularities of growth and development of fir in the first stages of ontogeny reflect specific adaptations of fir that allow this species to compete with understory nemoral species. The xylorhizome formation is one of the structural–functional adaptations for the ontogeny protection, allowing to fir undergrowth a long time exist in pessimal conditions under the forest canopy.",
"corpus_id": 4359232,
"title": "The particularities of the growth of Siberian fir (Abies sibirica Ledeb.) in the first stages of ontogeny in conifer forests (Ufa plateau, Pre-Ural)"
} | {
"abstract": "The oak (Quercus robur L.) regeneration intensity was assessed in the core area of the Białowieża National Park (BNP) in Poland with respect to the selected ecological factors. The emphasis was placed on the response of oak regeneration to disturbances, including the large-scale dieback of spruce stands. Defining their effect could help predicting the role of oak in naturally developing lowland forest ecosystems in the European hemiboreal zone. The results of the study challenge the opinion that the ‘lime-oak-hornbeam forest’ is a ‘climax’ community, confirming a very poor regeneration represented by only two saplings taller than 0.5 m per hectare. By contrast, in spruce-dominated communities, from 49 to 848 taller saplings per hectare were found. The occurrence of saplings was associated with discontinuous canopy of late seral stage of stands, as well as with large gaps. Most of the best quality grown-up oak saplings developed in the immediate neighbourhood of spruce logs. The results of the research indicate that ‘lime-oak-hornbeam forest’ (Tilio-Carpinetum) should be rather perceived as a transient community, evolved from relict, culturally modified, oak woodlands. Because spruce had become a dominating species only after abandoning in mid-1800s the historical regime of anthropogenic disturbances (involving frequent forest fires), the observed phenomena related to the disintegration of spruce stands had probably no precedent over the last 500 years. To confirm whether the massive decline of spruce stands will finally result in the successful establishment of the new canopy oak generation, both in Białowieża and other forests of hemiboreal zone, further research is needed.",
"corpus_id": 20878128,
"title": "Oak (Quercus robur L.) regeneration as a response to natural dynamics of stands in European hemiboreal zone"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract The study is concerned with the ecological responses of deciduous hardwood trees to light, moisture, pH and nitrogen, in forests located in the Boreo-nemoral zone of Sweden. Analyses were carried out for three data sets comprising releves from different areas: (1) Oland, (2) Uppland/Sodermanland, and (3) Halland/Bohuslan/Vastergotland. The values of environmental factors in the releves were assessed by calculating weighted averages of Ellenberg's species' indicator values. For each factor, the tree species' responses were determined by fitting regression curves to the log-transformed cover-abundance values of the tree species at the sites, as a function of the weighted averages at the corresponding sites. Regressions were carried out separately for the tree and field layers. In the majority of cases, significant linear or quadratic response curves were obtained. Fraxinus excelsior and Ulmus glabra represent two species with similar ecological behaviour. Both are very demanding with respect to soil moisture, pH and nitrogen, and in the field layer, both are highly tolerant of shade. Regarding the edaphic factors, Acer platanoides has its optima at lower values than Fraxinus and Ulmus, but is at least as shade-tolerant as these two species. Tilia cordata generally holds an intermediate position along all gradients in question. Quercus robur and Quercus petraea have their optima at the comparatively lowest values for the edaphic factors, but are the most light-demanding among the deciduous hardwood trees. The results are also discussed in view of the ecological literature from central and western Europe. Some species show geographically differing behaviour with respect to their responses to various environmental factors.",
"corpus_id": 83886735,
"score": 2,
"title": "Ecological behaviour of deciduous hardwood trees in Boreo-nemoral Sweden in relation to light and soil conditions"
} |
{
"abstract": "Biodegradation and detoxification of dyes, Malachite green, Nigrosin and Basic fuchsin have been carried out using two fungal isolates Aspergillus niger, and Phanerochaete chrysosporium, isolated from dye effluent soil. Three methods were selected for biodegradation, viz. agar overlay and liquid media methods; stationary and shaking conditions at 25 °C. Aspergillus niger recorded maximum decolorization of the dye Basic fuchsin (81.85%) followed by Nigrosin (77.47%), Malachite green (72.77%) and dye mixture (33.08%) under shaking condition. Whereas, P. chrysosporium recorded decolorization to the maximum with the Nigrosin (90.15%) followed by Basic fuchsin (89.8%), Malachite green (83.25%) and mixture (78.4%). The selected fungal strains performed better under shaking conditions compared to stationary method; moreover the inoculation of fungus also brought the pH of the dye solutions to neutral from acidic. Seed germination bioassay study exhibited that when inoculated dye solutions were used, seed showed germination while uninoculated dyes inhibited germination even after four days of observation. Similarly, microbial growth was also inhibited by uninoculated dyes. The excellent performance of A. niger and P. chrysporium in the biodegradation of textile dyes of different chemical structures suggests and reinforces the potential of these fungi for environmental decontamination.",
"corpus_id": 3375630,
"title": "Bioremediation of dyes by fungi isolated from contaminated dye effluent sites for bio-usability"
} | {
"abstract": "Filamentous fungi that produce mycotoxins also demonstrate the ability to degrade a wide variety of naturally occurring and anthropogenically generated hazardous wastes. Hence, these are emerging as excellent candidates for bioremediation. Their mycelia exhibit the robustness of adapting to highly restrictive environmental conditions often experienced in the presence of persistent pollutants, which makes them more useful compared to other microbes. However, it now appears that several regulatory factors that govern mycotoxin synthesis in these toxigenic strains also regulate their bioremediation abilities. To this end, mycoremediation and mycotoxin synthesis have been thoroughly but independently investigated; hence, much less is understood about the overlaps between the two processes. This review aims to shed light on this critical knowledge gap and provide some useful insights into the future research that might overcome the challenges associated with these shared regulatory modules. This will enable the harnessing of the full potential of mycoremediation by minimizing mycotoxin contamination.",
"corpus_id": 8410379,
"title": "Mycoremediation with mycotoxin producers: a critical perspective"
} | {
"abstract": "A mixed anaerobic bacterial culture decolorized Drimaren Orange K-GL, Everzol Red RBN and Everdirect Supra Yellow PG dyestuffs at 200 mg dyestuff l−1 over 24 h. Improved performance with complete decolorization within 24 h was achieved by incubation with 5 g yeast extract l−1 compared to glucose, lactose and sucrose though 50 mg yeast extract l−1 supplemented with 5 g lactose l−1 or 5 g sucrose l−1 also resulted in complete decolorization within 24 h.",
"corpus_id": 25006094,
"score": 2,
"title": "Decolorization of textile dyestuffs by a mixed bacterial consortium"
} |
{
"abstract": "Flax reinforced tannin-based composites have a potential to be used in vehicle applications due to the environmental advantages and good mechanical properties. In this paper, the effects of fibre configuration on mechanical properties of flax/tannin composites were investigated for nonwoven and woven fabric lay-up angles (UD, [0°, 90°]2 and [0°, +45°, 90°, -45°]2). The tannin/flax composites were prepared by compression moulding. The manufactured specimens were then characterized for quasi-static tensile properties, dynamic mechanical properties and low-energy impact performance. Failure mechanism was further investigated using microscopy and demonstrated the need for further adhesion improvements. The study shows that the UD fabric reinforced composite performs better in tensile strength and modulus whereas [0°, +45°, 90°, -45°]2 composite provides the best impact energy absorption performance.",
"corpus_id": 3565746,
"title": "Effect of fibre configurations on mechanical properties of flax / tannin composites"
} | {
"abstract": "The use of chestnut (Castanea sativa) shell tannin extracts for the formulation of wood adhesives has been studied. The interest was centred not only on the formulation of adhesives from a renewable resource but also on the possibility of completely removing formaldehyde from the adhesive formulations. Tris(hydroxymethyl)nitromethane (TRIS), glyoxal (GLY) and hexamine (HEX) were used as hardeners and the results were compared with those obtained with the traditional hardener, paraformaldehyde (PAR). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were used to study the chemical and mechanical cure of the formulated adhesives and the influence of the type of hardener on the curing properties. DSC curves were obtained at three heating rates and using an isoconversional method, chemical conversion vs. time at a given temperature was obtained. The curing enthalpy for the adhesive with hexamine as hardener was the highest and decreased in the order HEX ~ TRIS ≫ GLY > PAR. The highest rate of chemical cure was achieved using PAR as hardener followed by GLY > HEX > TRIS, that required higher curing temperatures to achieve complete chemical cure. Mechanical cure was analyzed from isothermal DMA experiments. The rate of mechanical curing decreased in the order TRIS > HEX > GLY, however, the rigidity after completion of curing increased in the same order. Alternative hardeners increased significantly adhesive pot-life compared to paraformaldehyde, especially tris(hydroxymethyl)nitromethane.",
"corpus_id": 96554887,
"title": "DSC and DMA study of chestnut shell tannins for their application as wood adhesives without formaldehyde emission"
} | {
"abstract": "This work is focused on the evaluation of a β-cyclodextrin polymer as a carrier medium in a fluidized bed bioreactor treating aqueous phenol as a model pollutant. The insoluble polymer support was obtained in the shape of spherical beads by crosslinking β-cyclodextrin with epichlorohydrin. A batch of swollen polymer particles was loaded into the reactor and inoculated with a mixed bacterial culture. Bacterial growth on the polymer beads was initially stimulated by glucose addition to the medium, and then gradually replaced with phenol. The operational variables studied after the acclimation period included phenol load, hydraulic residence time and recirculation flow rate. Low hydraulic residence times and moderate phenol loads were applied. The elimination capacity was usually about 1.0 kg-phenol/m3d, although a maximum of 2.8 kg-phenol/m3d was achieved with a retention time of only 0.55 h. The depuration efficiency was not affected by the recirculation flow rate in the range studied. Neither operational nor support stability problems were detected during the operation. A high degree of expansion was achieved in the bioreactor due to the hydrogel nature of the cyclodextrin polymer and, consequently, a low energy requirement was necessary to fluidize the bed.",
"corpus_id": 24902867,
"score": 1,
"title": "Feasibility study of degradation of phenol in a fluidized bed bioreactor with a cyclodextrin polymer as biofilm carrier"
} |
{
"abstract": "Abstract Ehlers and Kundt have provided an approximate procedure to demonstrate that gravitational waves impart momentum to test particles. This was extended to cylindrical gravitational waves by Weber and Wheeler. Here a general, exact, formula for the momentum imparted to test particles in arbitrary spacetimes is presented.",
"corpus_id": 1762596,
"title": "General formula for the momentum imparted to test particles in arbitrary spacetimes"
} | {
"abstract": "Using the energy‐momentum complexes of Tolman, Papapetrou and Weinberg, the total energy of the universe in Locally Rotationally Symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type II models is calculated. The total energy is found to be zero due to the matter plus field. This result supports the viewpoint of Tryon, Rosen and Albrow.",
"corpus_id": 9222863,
"title": "Energy distribution of the universe in the Bianchi type II cosmological models"
} | {
"abstract": "We describe a dynamic direct space-to-time pulse shaper based on the combination of a reflective arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer and an array of digital micromirrors used as an external reflector. Spatial modulation was obtained by imposing a reconfigurable periodic structure on the digital micromirror array. The period of this structure and the number of reflecting micromirrors within each period was varied to produce pulse sequences with variable repetition rates within the burst and different pulsewidths. Experimental results are in excellent agreement with simulated temporal output response.",
"corpus_id": 23012444,
"score": 1,
"title": "Reconfigurable direct space-to-time pulse-shaper based on arrayed waveguide grating multiplexers and digital micromirrors"
} |
{
"abstract": "We present basic ideas and a prototypical implementation of a graphical user interface intended for the architectural design process. The interface integrates CAD-likeobject manipulation and navigation through large data sets. Navigation and working area are not separated as done in prior work. Geometric transformations produce a deformed but controllable display of the data in the border area of the working window while normal working is possible in the untransformed center. The arrangement allows the user to shift directly from construction tasks to navigation tasks. Data reduction techniques have been implemented in order to reduce the cost of transformation and display.",
"corpus_id": 2055755,
"title": "Hyperbolic user interfaces for computer aided architectural design"
} | {
"abstract": "INTRODUCTION: DESIGN METHOD Our work focuses on the design of visualization and interaction techniques for large information spaces. Our design approach is based on a conceptual study of users and their tasks [4]. To face the diversity of users and tasks we adopt an interaction-centered approach and focus on navigation tasks. Based on the characteristics of navigation, we develop ergonomic criteria that need to be satisfied by the designed navigational techniques. One of the criteria, representation multiplicity, is crucial in order to accommodate the diversity of needs. We illustrate representation multiplicity with our own system, VITESSE [7, 10] that runs on the WWW. In the design method, the last step before coding, is software architecture modeling. In the context of VITESSE, we demonstrate the suitability of our architectural model PAC-AMODEUS for representation multiplicity.",
"corpus_id": 702821,
"title": "Multiple Representations of Navigable Worlds"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper proposes a patch based image inpainting algorithm for multi-view images. In our framework we fill the holes which are created by removing objects from an image pair. We assume that a user provides two masks to remove objects from an image pair. Our algorithm consists of two stages. In the first stage we align the images and construct an exemplar dictionary with the patches sampled from the reference as well as the warped image. In the second stage, the reference image is iteratively filled by choosing patches along the boundary of the hole. We use l1-minimization framework to estimate the unknown pixels. This proposed method is observed to outperform existing techniques that are built upon exemplar based sparse reconstruction.",
"corpus_id": 1062192,
"score": 1,
"title": "Multi-view image inpainting with sparse representations"
} |
{
"abstract": "The IL28B genotype has been found to have a strong influence on spontaneous clearance of acute HCV both in HCV mono- and HIV/ the HCV co-infected patients. Spontaneous clearance of chronic HCV without HCV treatment is rare. Here, we report on three chronic HCV cases co-infected with HIV with spontaneous clearance of their HCV infection, all with the IL28B CC genotype. These cases were derived from a surveillance of the total HIV/HCV co-infected cohort in Sweden (n =4 66). The estimated frequency of spontaneous clearance of chronic HCV infection in our cohort was calculated to be 0.6-4.7%. Our cases lend some support to the initiation of ART prior to HCV treatment in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. Furthermore, HCV-RNA testing should be recommended immediately before initiation of HCV treatment, to find the subset of HIV/HCV co-infected patients with IL28B CC that may have cleared their chronic infection spontaneously.",
"corpus_id": 1015548,
"title": "Occasional spontaneous clearance of chronic hepatitis C virus in HIV-infected individuals."
} | {
"abstract": "ABSTRACT Introduction: Direct-acting antivirals (DAA) have revolutionized the modern treatment of chronic hepatitis C (HCV). These highly efficacious, well-tolerated, all-oral HCV regimens allow cure of HCV in over 95% of HCV-monoinfected as well as HIV/HCV-coinfected patients with short treatment durations of 8–12 weeks. Areas covered: This review will address recent developments of DAA-therapy in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients in clinical trials and real life cohorts and evaluate remaining challenges, particularly resistance, drug-drug interactions, acute HCV infection and liver transplantation focusing on HIV/HCV-coinfected patients. Expert opinion: Indeed, all available data have shown that HIV/HCV-coinfection has no impact on HCV-treatment outcome. Management, indication of therapy and follow-up of HCV-infection are now the same for both patient populations. HIV/HCV-coinfected patients however, require careful evaluation of potential drug-drug-interactions between HCV drugs and HIV antiretroviral therapy, medication for substance abuse and other comedications. The few remaining gaps in DAA-therapy in particular treatment of cirrhotic treatment-experienced genotype 3 infections, decompensated cirrhosis, chronic kidney disease and patients with prior DAA treatment failure have mostly been overcome by the development of new HCV agents recently licensed. Clearly, the biggest challenge globally remains the access to treatment and the inclusion of all patient populations affected in particular people who inject drugs (PWID).",
"corpus_id": 3754758,
"title": "Advances in the treatment of HIV/HCV coinfection in adults"
} | {
"abstract": "Second order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of single crystals with complex structures are studied, from the chemical bond viewpoint. Contributions of each type of constituent chemical bond to the total linearity and nonlinearity are calculated from the actual crystal structure, using the chemical bond theory of complex crystals and the modified bond charge model. We have quantitatively proposed certain relationships between the crystal structure and its NLO properties. Several relations have been established from the calculation. Our method makes it possible for us to identify, predict and modify new NLO materials according to our needs.",
"corpus_id": 119895448,
"score": 0,
"title": "Chemical bond analysis of the correlation between crystal structure and nonlinear optical properties of complex crystals"
} |
{
"abstract": "Electrochemical biosensors are useful diagnostic tools which possess the capacity for rapid detection of analytes in biofluids. Here, we report the first time embroidered electrochemical sensors on gauze for rapid measurements of wound biomarkers. Robust, flexible electrodes were successfully fabricated onto medical gauze and wound dressings via embroidery. Proof-of-concept was carried out by performing quantitative measurements of uric acid, a biomarker for wound healing, in simulated wound fluid. This gauze-based sensor exhibits excellent linearity from 0 μM to 800 μM. Additionally, we demonstrated that the gauze sensor works excellent and consistent when this is extra layer wrapping over it. Lastly, we show that this biosensor exhibits high specificity and good resilience against mechanical deformation, making it a promising platform for noninvasive wound monitoring.",
"corpus_id": 11887568,
"title": "Embroidered biosensors on gauze for rapid electrochemical measurements"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Advanced wound care technologies need to evolve in response to the growing burden of chronic wounds on national healthcare budgets and the debilitating impact chronic wounds have on patient quality of life. We describe here a new type of smart bandage for determination of uric acid (UA) status, a key wound biomarker, formed by screen printing an amperometric biosensor directly on a wound dressing. Immobilized uricase, paired with a printed catalytic Prussian blue transducer, facilitates chronoamperometric detection of uric acid at a low working potential. The smart bandage biosensor interfaces with a custom designed wearable potentiostat that provides on-demand wireless data transfer of UA status to a computer, tablet, or Smartphone by radio frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC). The analytical performance of the smart bandage—sensitivity, selectivity, operational stability, and mechanical robustness—is described. Application of these bandages will provide insight into wound status and may reduce the frequency at which dressings are changed, allowing for healthcare cost savings and a reduction in patient stress and pain.",
"corpus_id": 13207400,
"title": "Smart bandage with wireless connectivity for uric acid biosensing as an indicator of wound status"
} | {
"abstract": "A magnetoelectric (ME) composite consisting of a copper ultrasonic horn, a magnetostrictive Terfenol-D (TbxDy1−xFe2) plate, and multiple piezoelectric PZT [Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3] plates has been developed. The ultrasonic horn converges and amplifies the vibrating magnitude and drives PZT plates at wide bandwidth. The composite with multiple PZT plates electrically connected in series/parallel exhibits a 25 times higher ME voltage coefficient than the previous laminate composite of PZT and Terfenol-D plates. 100 times higher ME voltage coefficients can be obtained by using a silicon horn composite with a higher Q value of 104 and more PZT plates of ten electrically connected in series/parallel.",
"corpus_id": 120460428,
"score": 1,
"title": "Enhanced magnetoelectric effects in composite of piezoelectric ceramics, rare-earth iron alloys, and ultrasonic horn"
} |
{
"abstract": "We investigate a recently proposed method for the analysis of oscillatory patterns in EEG data, with respect to its capacity of further quantifying processes on slower (<1Hz) time scales. The method is based on modeling the EEG time series by linear autoregressive (AR) models with time dependent parameters. Systems described by such linear models can be interpreted as a set of coupled stochastically driven oscillators with time dependent frequencies and damping coefficients. It is an open question to which extent the estimated frequencies and dampings correspond to true properties of oscillatory eigenmodes in the underlying networks. The present study investigates this relationship using simple neural network models to generate artificial data with controllable properties. We demonstrate that the method detects changes of the eigenmodes induced by slow parameter changes of the network very well.",
"corpus_id": 190248,
"title": "Dynamics of parameters of neurophysiological models from phenomenological EEG modeling"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract A new algorithm for the detection of oscillatory events in the EEG is presented. By estimating autoregressive models on short segments the sleep EEG is described as a superposition of stochastically driven harmonic oscillators with damping and frequencies varying in time. Oscillatory events are detected, whenever the damping of one or more frequencies is smaller than a predefined threshold. The algorithm works well for the detection of sleep spindles as well as for delta and alpha waves. The distribution of the time intervals between the detected sleep spindles shows maxima around 3– 4 s . It is discussed whether this maximum originates from slow oscillations or from stochasticity.",
"corpus_id": 16074062,
"title": "Oscillatory events in the human sleep EEG - detection and properties"
} | {
"abstract": "A model checking technique to specify and verify temporal properties of drug disposition changes is proposed. In pharmacokinetics and pharmaceutics, drug kinetics is often modeled as single or multiple compartment models. In this paper, a probabilistic temporal logic, called iLTL, is introduced to specify many interesting properties of drug kinetics. Given a specification, a computerized technique, called model checking [1], is used to check whether all drug disposition changes of a compartment model comply with the specification.",
"corpus_id": 11756852,
"score": 1,
"title": "Specification and verification of pharmacokinetic models."
} |
{
"abstract": "The purpose of this prospective study was to identify the incidence of a distinct central anticholinergic syndrome following routine anaesthesia. For 2 months, all inpatients aged more than 15 years scheduled for elective procedures and cared for in the recovery room were investigated for symptoms of the syndrome. Patients with neuropsychiatric disease or other disorders that could alter consciousness were excluded. Prolonged action of anaesthetics or relaxants, respiratory depression and metabolic disorder were ruled out before making the diagnosis. Out of 962 patients (366 men, 596 women), 18 (4 men, 14 women) developed the syndrome. The difference between men and women was not statistically significant. Six out of 60 women developed the syndrome after a hysterectomy with or without adnectomy/oophorectomy, and this high incidence was significantly different from that observed after all other procedures in women (P = 0.003) or all other gynaecological procedures (P = 0.013). The reason for this is unknown. In six of the 18 cases, untreated prolonged somnolence lasted for more than 2 h. All patients woke up after an injection of physostigmine, but six of them relapsed into somnolence and needed a second, and in one case a third, injection. The findings of the study emphasize that, when there is delayed recovery from anaesthesia, the diagnosis of central anticholinergic syndrome should be considered if other accessible causes for that condition have been excluded.",
"corpus_id": 826441,
"title": "Distinct central anticholinergic syndrome following general anaesthesia."
} | {
"abstract": "Editor—It is postulated that alteration of central cholinergic transmission may play an important role in the mechanism by which general anaesthetic drugs produce unconsciousness. 2 It has been shown that increasing central cholinergic tone with the anticholinesterase physostigmine antagonizes the hypnotic effect of propofol or sevoflurane shown by the return of consciousness. 4 In contrast, passage of neostigmine across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is limited. Therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that neostigmine does not possess arousal effects like physostigmine. However, we experienced an elderly neurosurgical case in which neostigmine probably reversed prolonged recovery from general anaesthesia. A 70-yr-old woman was undergoing an elective removal of a left temporal lobe tumour. Before operation, she had no neurological deficit, her medical history included hypertension, and her physical examination and laboratory analyses were essentially normal. No premedication was given. Bispectral index (BIS) was recorded using the Aspect A-2000 EEG monitor (BIS version 3.4; Aspect Medical Systems, Newton, MA, USA) with electrodes (Zipprep; Aspect Medical System) positioned around the lateral corner of the right eye. Anaesthesia was induced with propofol 100 mg and fentanyl 100 mg, and the trachea was intubated after rocuronium 30 mg. The ventilatory frequency was adjusted to maintain normocapnia. The rectal temperature was monitored and maintained at normothermia. Anaesthesia was maintained with 1–2% sevoflurane in oxygen/air to keep BIS at 50–60. Remifentanil was given by continuous infusion to achieve adequate analgesia (0.1–0.2 mg kg min). No further rocuronium was given during the operation. During craniotomy, 300 ml of 20% mannitol was infused to prevent cerebral oedema. After uneventful surgery (4 h), the patient was asleep, but spontaneous ventilation was sufficient. Repeated measurements of train-of-four ratio with acceleromyography (TOF-WATCHTM, ScheringPlough, Kenilworth, NJ, USA) were 1.0 or more, indicating no residual neuromuscular block. She remained deeply sedated without response to verbal or tactile stimulation. BIS score was still around 60, although the expiratory sevoflurane concentration was almost zero. The BIS sensor was relocated in the commercially recommended position; however, BIS score was unchanged. As consciousness was still not present after 65 min, a presumptive diagnosis of alteration of central cholinergic transmission by general anaesthesia was proposed. We had to use neostigmine as physostigmine is not available in Japan. Immediately after the administration of neostigmine (2 mg), BIS score increased 60–95, spontaneous eye opening occurred, and she became responsive to verbal commands. A transient decrease in heart rate from 80 to 60 beats min was observed, but no treatment was necessary. The patient was transferred to the intensive care unit for further postoperative treatment with no evidence of persisting neurological deficit. Additional neostigmine was not required. A single administration of physostigmine is usually efficient for treatment of central anticholinergic syndrome after general anaesthesia. Central cholinergic transmission can be inhibited to some degree after general anaesthesia. – 11 Therefore, it is recognized that postoperative sustained deep sedation is occasionally caused by reduced central anticholinergic transmission. Postoperative respiratory depression due to opioids and residual neuromuscular block were not presented in our case, and the expired sevoflurane concentration was almost zero. As the recovery from deep sedation relates to the time of neostigmine administration, it is reasonable to consider that central cholinergic transmission played an important role in developing postoperative sustained deep sedation in this case. Neostigmine given peripherally is thought to be ineffective at reversing central choligernic inhibition. However, mannitol was given in this case, and this has been used to deliver drugs into the brain parenchyma through its osmotic effect on the BBB. In addition, BBB may have been damaged during the neurosurgical procedures. Therefore, the neostigmine may have entered the brain through a disrupted BBB and restored choligernic transmission. The elapsed time (65 min) could itself be an important factor in the recovery from anaesthesia in this case. However, it is not unreasonable to suggest that neostigmine was the pivotal factor in recovery, taking the recovery profile and timing of neostigmine administration into consideration. In conclusion, we describe a case showing rapid awaking in a patient with prolonged recovery from general anaesthesia after administration of neostigmine. It is proposed that restoration of central choligernic transmission by neostigmine was responsible for this.",
"corpus_id": 194153,
"title": "Rapid awaking after administration of neostigmine in an elderly neurosurgical patient with prolonged recovery from general anaesthesia."
} | {
"abstract": "In 73 unpremedicated patients scheduled for minor outpatient oral surgery or restorative dentistry, enflurane anaesthesia was induced either with an emulsion formulation of propofol (2.5 mg/kg) or with methohexitone (2 mg/kg). Sensations at the site of the injection were more common when the drugs were injected into a vein in the dorsum of the hand (58% for propofol and 28% for methohexitone) when compared to a vein in the forearm or antecubital area (7 to 8% with sensations). After induction of anaesthesia intravenous suxamethonium was given, and endotracheal intubation carried out. Anaesthesia was subsequently maintained using nitrous oxide, oxygen and enflurane. One minute after intubation a similar decrease in mean systolic arterial pressure was noted in both groups but the increase in mean heart rate observed in the methohexitone group (22 beats/min) was significantly (P less than 0.01) greater than that seen in the propofol group (11 beats/min). Excitatory side effects were observed in only one patient in the propofol group and in 12 patients in the methohexitone group (P less than 0.01 between groups). Walking and perceptual speed tests of recovery showed transient impairment of psychomotor skills for 30 to 60 min after both anaesthetic regimens. The incidence of nausea or vomiting was similar (27 to 33%) in both groups. It is concluded that both propofol in emulsion form and methohexitone are satisfactory induction agents in outpatient dentistry. Propofol provided a smoother induction of anaesthesia and recovery was as rapid as after anaesthesia induced with methohexitone.",
"corpus_id": 22702346,
"score": 2,
"title": "Comparison of methohexitone and propofol ('Diprivan') for induction of enflurane anaesthesia in outpatients."
} |
{
"abstract": "The aim of this work is the preparation of contact active antimicrobial films by blending copolymers with quaternary ammonium salts and polyacrylonitrile as matrix material. A series of copolymers based on acrylonitrile and methacrylic monomers with quaternizable groups were designed with the purpose of investigating the influence of their chemical and structural characteristics on the antimicrobial activity of these surfaces. The biocide activity of these systems was studied against different microorganisms, such as the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and the Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomona aeruginosa and the yeast Candida parapsilosis. The results confirmed that parameters such as flexibility and polarity of the antimicrobial polymers immobilized on the surfaces strongly affect the efficiency against microorganisms. In contrast to the behavior of copolymers in water solution, when they are tethered to the surface, the active cationic groups are less accessible and then, the mobility of the side chain is critical for a good contact with the microorganism. Blend films composed of copolymers with high positive charge density and chain mobility present up to a more than 99.999% killing efficiency against the studied microorganisms.",
"corpus_id": 3691342,
"title": "Tailoring Macromolecular Structure of Cationic Polymers towards Efficient Contact Active Antimicrobial Surfaces"
} | {
"abstract": "Herein, efficient antimicrobial porous surfaces were prepared by breath figures approach from polymer solutions containing low content of block copolymers with high positive charge density. In brief, those block copolymers, which were used as additives, are composed of a polystyrene segment and a large antimicrobial block bearing flexible side chain with 1,3-thiazolium and 1,2,3-triazolium groups, PS54-b-PTTBM-M44, PS54-b-PTTBM-B44, having different alkyl groups, methyl or butyl, respectively. The antimicrobial block copolymers were blended with commercial polystyrene in very low proportions, from 3 to 9 wt %, and solubilized in THF. From these solutions, ordered porous films functionalized with antimicrobial cationic copolymers were fabricated, and the influence of alkylating agent and the amount of copolymer in the blend was investigated. Narrow pore size distribution was obtained for all the samples with pore diameters between 5 and 11 µm. The size of the pore decreased as the hydrophilicity of the system increased; thus, either as the content of copolymer was augmented in the blend or as the copolymers were quaternized with methyl iodide. The resulting porous polystyrene surfaces functionalized with low content of antimicrobial copolymers exhibited remarkable antibacterial efficiencies against Gram positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida parapsilosis fungi as microbial models.",
"corpus_id": 51717081,
"title": "Antimicrobial Porous Surfaces Prepared by Breath Figures Approach"
} | {
"abstract": "Cystine-stabilized mini-proteins are important scaffolds in the combinatorial search of binders for molecular recognition. The structural determinants of a cystine-stabilized scaffold are the critical residues determining the formation of the native disulfi de-bonding confi guration, and thus should remain unchanged in the combinatorial libraries so as to allow a large portion of the library sequences to be compatible with the scaffold structure. A high-throughput molecular evolution procedure has been developed to select and screen for the polypeptide sequences folding into a specifi c cystine-stabilized structure. Patterns of sequence preference that emerge from the resultant sequence profi les provide structural determinant information, which facilitates the designs of combinatorial libraries for combinatorial approaches as in phage display. This methodology enables artifi cial cystine-stabilized proteins to be engineered with enhanced folding and binding properties.",
"corpus_id": 3690947,
"score": 0,
"title": "Therapeutic Peptides"
} |
{
"abstract": "Transparent conductive aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films are being introduced as alternatives to indium tin oxide (ITO) films, because they do not contain indium, which is expensive and toxic. In this study, the structural, electrical, and optical properties of AZO electrodes fabricated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at a low temperature of 150 °C were examined by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The H2O purge time was changed in the ZnO cycle to alter the orientation of crystal phases and the film's electrical conductivity. An optimized AZO electrode, which had an Al:Zn mole ratio of 1:49, was prepared with a 20 s H2 O purge time. The resulting transparent electrode had a low resistivity (1.25 mΩ·cm ± 0.2 mΩ·cm) and a high transmittance (83.2% at 550 nm). The AZO film exhibited a high work function of 4.7 eV. Consequently, an classic organic light-emitting device (OLED) with an N,N′-bis-(1naphthl)-diphenyl-1,1′ -diphenyl-4,4′ -diamine and tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminum structure was fabricated on a glass substrate using the optimized AZO anode, and a maximum current efficiency of 3.9 cd/A was achieved. These results suggest that this method for preparing transparent conductive films via ALD can be used to create anodes for OLEDs.",
"corpus_id": 6883662,
"title": "Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide Transparent Electrode Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition for Organic Light Emitting Devices"
} | {
"abstract": "Ruthenium thin films were grown by thermal and plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) using O\"2 and ammonia (NH\"3) plasma, respectively. RuCp\"2 and Ru(EtCp)\"2 were used as Ru precursors. Pure and low resistivity (<[email protected]@Wcm) Ru films were grown by PE-ALD as well as thermal ALD. PE-ALD Ru showed no nucleation delay on various substrates including TaN\"x, Si, and SiO\"2, in contrast to thermal ALD Ru. And the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of PE-ALD Ru was lower than that of thermal ALD Ru. Additionally, metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor composed of p-Si/ALD Ta\"2O\"5/ALD Ru (35nm) was fabricated and C-V measurements were performed for as-deposited sample. Very small hysteresis of 20mV was obtained, and effective work function difference to Si substrate was minimal as -0.03V. For comparison, MOS capacitor was fabricated using sputtered Ru and large hysteresis of 0.5V and flat band voltage (V\"F\"B) shift to negative value were observed. This result indicates that ALD process produces more reliable, damage free Ru gate compared to sputtering process.",
"corpus_id": 98054706,
"title": "Thermal and plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition ruthenium and electrical characterization as a metal electrode"
} | {
"abstract": "Screw loosening is considered to be a common problem with both screw - retained and cemented implant restorations. A wider abutment platform, as well as using a torque driver to tighten specifically designed screws may help prevent this loosening. However, there has been no clinical study evaluating either of these. To longitudinally compare the frequency of screw loosening in standard diameter, (3.75 and 4.0 mm) implant supported prostheses to that of wide diameter, (5.0 and 6.0 mm) implant supported prostheses that were hand tightened, and to evaluate whether using a torque driver would minimize or prevent this problem, if screw loosening occurred. A total of 213 dental implants in 106 patients were included in this prospective longitudinal study. Of the implants 68 were wide diameter and 145 were standard diameter implants. Wide diameter implants showed 5.8% screw loosening, while standard diameter implants showed 14.5% screw loosening after insertion with only hand torquing. When these loose screws were tightened with a torque driver, there was no more loosening of screws. Within the limitations of this study, the wide diameter implants tested showed less screw loosening than the standard diameter implants when hand torqued. Additionally, within the scope of our study, using a torque driver to tighten the screws with the recommended force prevented this loosening from reoccurring in all cases.",
"corpus_id": 11870168,
"score": 1,
"title": "Screw Loosening for Standard and Wide Diameter Implants in Partially Edentulous Cases: 3- to 7-Year Longitudinal Data"
} |
{
"abstract": "The increasing performance of modern processors makes virtualization a viable solution for consolidating real-time systems into a single hardware platform. Although real-time task scheduling in a virtual machine can benefit from hierarchical scheduling, unbounded interrupt handling time and vulnerability to interrupt storms make practitioners hesitant to virtualize interrupt-driven real-time applications. In this paper, we propose vINT, an interrupt handling scheme designed for real-time system virtualization. vINT provides a pseudo-VCPU abstraction dedicated for interrupt handling, which overcomes the limits imposed by the timing parameters of virtual CPUs in an analyzable way. vINT also accounts for and enforces interrupt handling and resulting execution flows within a guest virtual machine. vINT does not require any change to the guest OS code, so it can be used for virtualizing proprietary, closed-source OSs. We analyze interrupt handling time as well as VCPU and task schedulability, with and without vINT. Our experimental results indicate that vINT achieves timely interrupt handling while providing as good task schedulability as when it is not used. Our case study based on a prototype implementation on the KVM hyper visor shows that vINT yields significant benefits in reducing interrupt handling time and in protecting real-time tasks against interrupt storms permeating into the virtual machine.",
"corpus_id": 15766365,
"title": "Responsive and Enforced Interrupt Handling for Real-Time System Virtualization"
} | {
"abstract": null,
"corpus_id": 2408450,
"title": "kvm: the Linux Virtual Machine Monitor"
} | {
"abstract": "Designing powerful tools that support cooking activities has rapidly gained popularity due to the massive amounts of available data, as well as recent advances in machine learning that are capable of analyzing them. In this paper, we propose a cross-modal retrieval model aligning visual and textual data (like pictures of dishes and their recipes) in a shared representation space. We describe an effective learning scheme, capable of tackling large-scale problems, and validate it on the Recipe1M dataset containing nearly 1 million picture-recipe pairs. We show the effectiveness of our approach regarding previous state-of-the-art models and present qualitative results over computational cooking use cases.",
"corpus_id": 13755946,
"score": -1,
"title": "Cross-Modal Retrieval in the Cooking Context: Learning Semantic Text-Image Embeddings"
} |
{
"abstract": "Let k be a positive integer, and let G be a simple graph with vertex set V(G). A function f : V(G) → {±1, ±2, …, ±k} is called a signed total {k}-dominating function if ∑u∈N(v) f(u) ≥ k for each vertex v ∈ V(G). A set {f1, f2, …, fd} of signed total {k}-dominating functions on G with the property that for each v∈V(G), is called a signed total {k}-dominating family (of functions) on G. The maximum number of functions in a signed total {k}-dominating family on G is the signed total {k}-domatic number of G, denoted by . Note that is the classical signed total domatic number dS(G). In this paper, we initiate the study of signed total k-domatic numbers in graphs, and we present some sharp upper bounds for . In addition, we determine for several classes of graphs. Some of our results are extensions of known properties of the signed total domatic number.",
"corpus_id": 2683332,
"title": "Signed total {k}-domination and {k}-Domatic numbers of Graphs"
} | {
"abstract": "Let k be a positive integer and let G be a simple graph with vertex set V (G). A function f : V (G) ! f 1;1g is called a signed total k-dominating function if ∑ u2 N(v) f(u) k for each vertex v 2 V (G). A set ff1;f2;:::;fdg of signed total k-dominating functions of G with the property that ∑ d=1 fi(v) 1, for each v 2 V (G), is called a signed total k-dominating family (of functions) of G. The maximum number of functions in a signed total k-dominating family of G is the signed total k-domatic number of G, denoted by d t (G). In this note we initiate the study of the signed total k-domatic numbers of graphs and present some sharp upper bounds for this parameter. We also determine the signed total k-domatic numbers of complete graphs and complete bipartite graphs.",
"corpus_id": 121524442,
"title": "SIGNED TOTAL k-DOMATIC NUMBERS OF GRAPHS"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper provides estimates of the impact of the recent economic crisis on paid and unpaid work time in Turkey. The data used in this study come from the first and only time-use survey available at the national level. Infrequency of collection of time-use data in Turkey does not allow us to make a direct comparison of pre- versus postcrisis time-use patterns. We introduce a tractable way for estimating these possible effects by measuring the impact of an increase in unemployment risk on time-use patterns of women and men living in couple households. The method developed here can be applied to other developing-country cases where there is a lack of longitudinal data availability. Our findings support the argument that economic crises reinforce the preexisting gender inequalities in work time.",
"corpus_id": 43943491,
"score": 0,
"title": "Estimating the Impact of the Recent Economic Crisis on Work Time in Turkey"
} |
{
"abstract": "PlanetLab is a globally distributed overlay platform that has been increasingly used by researchers to deploy and assess planetary-scale network services. This paper analyzes some particular advantages of PlanetLab, and then investigates its evolution process, geographical node-distribution, and network topological features. The revealed results are helpful for researchers to 1) understand the history of PlanetLab and some of its important properties quantitatively; 2) realize the dynamic of PlanetLab environment and design professional experiments; 3) select stable nodes that possess a high probability to run continuously for a long time; and 4) objectively and in depth evaluate the experimental results.",
"corpus_id": 3569447,
"title": "Empirical Study on the Evolution of PlanetLab"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Large-scale testbeds provide realistic environments for the experimentation and evaluation of new protocols and distributed applications. In order to be successful, these experiments must be executed on sets of nodes that present a reasonable level of stability, and it is important to ensure their reproducibility. In this work we describe strategies to select sets of testbed nodes based on monitoring information. The system is modeled as a stability graph in which the vertices correspond to testbed nodes and there is an edge between two vertices if their communication is classified as stable. We investigate the performance of different topologies embedded in the stability graph to run experiments on PlanetLab. Results show that the k-core outperforms the other strategies in terms of their impact on the performance and reproducibility of the experiments. A k-core is a maximal subgraph of G in which all vertices have degree at least k. The average execution time of distributed applications executed on a k-core was up to 59% lower, and the variation on the results obtained was reduced by up to 29% when compared to other alternatives.",
"corpus_id": 5525501,
"title": "Improving the performance and reproducibility of experiments on large-scale testbeds with k-cores"
} | {
"abstract": "We generate simulated holograms for low energy electron point source (LEEPS) microscopy. For a given object (atomic cluster) we construct a number of different holograms by varying the position or ...",
"corpus_id": 16267475,
"score": 1,
"title": "Tomographic reconstruction of multiple in-line holograms for multiple scattering in low energy electron holography"
} |
{
"abstract": "In many clinical studies, laparoscopic surgery (LS) for colon cancer has been shown to be less invasive than open surgery (OS) while maintaining similar safety. Furthermore, there are no significant differences between LS and OS in long-term outcomes. Thus, LS has been accepted as one of the standard treatments for colon cancer. In the treatments of rectal cancer as well, LS has achieved favorable outcomes, with many reports showing long-term outcomes comparable to those of OS. Furthermore, the magnification in laparoscopy improves visualization in the pelvic cavity and facilitates precise manipulation, as well as providing excellent educational effects. For these reasons, rectal cancer has seemed to be well indicated for LS, as has been colon cancer. The indication for LS in the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer, which is relatively unresectable (e.g., cancer invading other organs), remains an open issue. In recent years, new techniques such as single-port and robotic surgery have begun to be introduced for LS. Presently, various clinical studies in our country as well as in most Western countries have demonstrated that LS, with these new techniques, are gradually showing long-term outcomes.",
"corpus_id": 1188156,
"title": "Present laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer in Japan."
} | {
"abstract": "Laparoscopic surgery is now widely accepted because of its many benefits. We have successfully performed laparoscopic curative resection in 72 patients with colon cancer or polyps. Of these patients, seven with cecal creeping tumor underwent laparoscopic local cecum excision (cecectomy). The creeping tumor is often found in the rectum and cecum. It is extremely difficult to remove endoscopically because of its shape and size. In addition, the recurrence rate after endoscopic mucosal resection is high. Therefore, laparoscopic cecectomy was thought to be a suitable procedure for such cases. This procedure was performed intracorporeally by using an ENDO-GIA and was less invasive than the extracorporeal procedure. These tumors, which showed local cancer limited to the mucosa or tubular adenoma with severe dysplasia in pathological findings, were resected completely. All patients tolerated liquids 1 day postoperatively and were discharged within 5 days. Our experience suggests that laparoscopic cecectomy has the potential to be useful for cecal creeping tumors.",
"corpus_id": 1208196,
"title": "Laparoscopic local excision of the cecum for cecal creeping tumor."
} | {
"abstract": "Laparoscopic resection of the low rectum is technically difficult. This article describes a technique for laparoscopic-assisted, transvaginal low anterior resection of the rectum, which is technically easier and leads to an excellent cosmetic result.",
"corpus_id": 35612453,
"score": 2,
"title": "Laparoscopic-assisted transvaginal resection of the rectum"
} |
{
"abstract": "Software forms a key component of many modern safety and security critical systems. One approach to achieving the required levels of assurance is to prove that the software is free from bugs and meets its specification. If a proof cannot be constructed it is important to identify the root cause as it may be a flaw in the specification or a bug. Novice users often find this process frustrating and discouraging, and it can be time-consuming for experienced users. The paper describes a commercial application based on Answer Set Programming called Riposte. It generates simple counter-examples for false and unprovable verification conditions (VCs). These help users to understand why problematic VC are false and makes the development of verified software easier and faster.",
"corpus_id": 844754,
"title": "Using Answer Set Programming in the Development of Verified Software"
} | {
"abstract": "We have constructed a tool for using S MT (SAT Modulo Theories) solvers to discharge verification conditions (VCs) from programs writ ten in the SPARK language. The tool has API interfaces for some solvers and can drive any sol ver supporting the S MT-L IB standard input language. SPARK is a subset of Ada used primarily in high-integrity systems i n the aerospace, defence, rail and security industries. Formal verification of SPARK programs is supported by tools produced by the UK company Altran Praxis. We report in this paper on our experience in proving S PARK VCs using the popular S MT solvers CVC3, Yices, Z3 and Simplify, and compare these solvers with Pra xis’s automatic prover. We find that the S MT solvers can prove virtually all the VCs that are discharged by Praxis’s prover, and sometimes more. Average run-times o f the fastest SMT solvers are observed to be roughly 1 −2× that of the Praxis prover. Significant work is sometimes needed in translating VCs into a f rm suitable for input to the SMT solvers. A major contribution of the paper is a detailed pres entation of the translations we implement. This is expected to be of interes to other users of S MT solvers.",
"corpus_id": 46549,
"title": "Proving SPARK Verification Conditions with SMT Solvers"
} | {
"abstract": "Currently, transport is highly dependent on fossil fuels and responsible for about 23% of world energy-related GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. Ethanol from sugar cane and corn emerges as an alternative for gasoline in order to mitigate GHG emissions. Additionally, deeper offshore drilling projects such as in the Brazilian Pre-Salt reservoirs and mining projects of nonconventional sources like Tar Sands in Canada could be a solution for supplying demand of fossil fuels in the short and midterm. Based on updated literature, this paper presents an assessment of GHG emissions for four different fuels: ethanol from sugar cane and from corn and gasoline from conventional crude oil and from tar sands. An Ecological Footprint analysis is also presented, which shows that ethanol from sugar cane has the lowest GHG emissions and requires the lowest biocapacity per unit of energy produced among these fuels. Finally, an analysis using the Embodied Water concept is made with the introduction of a new concept, the \"CO(2)-Water\", to illustrate the impacts of releasing carbon from underground to atmosphere and of the water needed to sequestrate it over the life cycle of the assessed fuels. Using this method resulted that gasoline from fossil fuels would indirectly \"require\" on average as much water as ethanol from sugar cane per unit of fuel energy produced.",
"corpus_id": 21870707,
"score": 0,
"title": "Assessing GHG emissions, ecological footprint, and water linkage for different fuels."
} |
{
"abstract": "Despite the advances in Liquid Crystal Display's (LCD) technology, LCD power consumption is still one of the major limiters of battery lifetime for handheld devices. The main contribution to LCD subsystem power consumption comes from the backlight. This can be substantially reduced by dynamically adapting backlight intensity while compensating the image quality degradation through image pixel transformation. Several compensation algorithms have been recently proposed to this purpose, but none of them is really capable of ensuring a target image quality while achieving major power savings. We propose a novel on-line technique for dynamic backlight scaling. Our approach is HVS (i.e. Human Visual System) and image structure-aware. We provide a fully operational implementation of the proposed framework by which we carried out a full characterization of the overall system power consumption versus QoS.",
"corpus_id": 1083877,
"title": "HVS-DBS: human visual system-aware dynamic luminance backlight scaling for video streaming applications"
} | {
"abstract": "With the increasing variety of mobile applications, reducing the energy consumption of mobile devices is a major challenge in sustaining multimedia streaming applications. This paper explores how to minimize the energy consumption of the backlight when displaying a video stream without adversely impacting the user's visual experience. First, we model the problem as a dynamic backlight scaling optimization problem. Then, we propose algorithms to solve the fundamental problem and prove the optimality in terms of energy savings. Finally, based on the algorithms, we present a cloud-based energy-saving service. We have also developed a prototype implementation integrated with existing video streaming applications to validate the practicability of the approach. The results of experiments conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed approach are very encouraging and show energy savings of 15-49 percent on commercial mobile devices.",
"corpus_id": 5849857,
"title": "Dynamic Backlight Scaling Optimization: A Cloud-Based Energy-Saving Service for Mobile Streaming Applications"
} | {
"abstract": "Backlight power minimization can effectively extend battery life for mobile handheld devices. This article proposes an adaptive middleware-based approach to optimize backlight power consumption when playing streaming video. The technique simultaneously minimizes the negative impact on perceived video quality.",
"corpus_id": 205157,
"score": 2,
"title": "Dynamic backlight adaptation for low-power handheld devices"
} |
{
"abstract": "At large data centers, server load balancing is used to balance the incoming requests among the servers to avoid excessive overloading of any individual server. However the present methods are static and suffer from many drawbacks. Static methods do not offer an even balance of data among servers and require dedicated hardware for load balancing. Hence, dynamic methods are required to enhance the load balance of server. Dynamic method provides load balancing of server inclusion of the dynamic state of traffic on the network. In this paper, the need for dynamic load balancing methods of SDN is discussed and provided with the literature survey of the existing static load balancing schemes.",
"corpus_id": 43692633,
"title": "Literature survey on traffic-based server load balancing using SDN and open flow"
} | {
"abstract": "Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is now envisioned for Wide Area Networks (WAN) and constrained overlay networks. Such networks require a resilient, scalable and easily extensible SDN control plane. In this paper, we propose DISCO, an extensible DIstributed SDN COntrol plane able to cope with the distributed and heterogeneous nature of modern overlay networks. A DISCO controller manages its own network domain and communicates with other controllers to provide end-to-end network services. This east-west communication is based on a lightweight and highly manageable control channel. We implemented DISCO on top of the Floodlight OpenFlow controller and the AMQP protocol and we evaluated it through an inter-domain topology disruption use case.",
"corpus_id": 15511276,
"title": "DISCO: Distributed multi-domain SDN controllers"
} | {
"abstract": "Effectiveness of information security of automated process control systems, as well as of SCADA, depends on data transmissions protection technologies applied on transport environments components. This article investigates the problem of detecting attacks on WSN (wireless sensor networks) of SCADA systems. As the result of analytical studies the authors developed the detailed classification of external attacks on sensor networks and brought the detailed description of attacking impacts on components of SCADA systems in accordance with selected directions of attacks. Reviewed the methods of intrusion detection in wireless sensor networks of SCADA systems and functions of WIDS (wireless intrusion detection systems). Noticed the role of anthropogenic factors in internal security threats.",
"corpus_id": 10653973,
"score": -1,
"title": "Analysis, classification and detection methods of attacks via wireless sensor networks in SCADA systems"
} |
{
"abstract": "For some years now, a ‘child-centred social investment strategy’ has been gaining influence in the German welfare state. In this context we are witnessing a social-investive turn within the policy for children and families and a significant increase in the importance of early childcare policy. Whereas the German federal government is emphasizing that this investive turn will produce pay-offs for the society’s economy, as well as for the individual child, the analysis in this article is based on recent child-oriented critiques of the social investment approach and points out major risks for children inherent in current early childcare policy in Germany.",
"corpus_id": 153349923,
"title": "Risks for children? Recent developments in early childcare policy in Germany"
} | {
"abstract": "The book explores the implications of changes to the welfare state for children in a range of countries. Children, Changing Families and Welfare States: examines the implications of social policies for children; sets the discussion in the broader context of both family change and welfare state change, exploring the nature of the policy debate that has allowed the welfare of the child to come to the fore; tackles policies to do with both the care and financial support of children; looks at the household level and how children fare when both adult men and women must seek to combine paid and unpaid work, and what support is offered by welfare states; and endeavours to provide a comparative perspective on these issues.",
"corpus_id": 54586205,
"title": "Introduction: Children in the Context of Changing Families and Welfare States"
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper, we take a multilevel perspective to investigate the role of child care in the transition to motherhood in Germany. We argue that in the European institutional context the availability of public day care and informal child care arrangements should be a central element of the local opportunity structure regarding the compatibility of childrearing and women's employment. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we apply a multilevel discrete time logit model to estimate first birth risks of western German women. While we find that access to informal care arrangements increases the probability of entering parenthood, we do not find any statistically significant effect of the public day care provision. This result probably points to shortcomings in the specific institutional set-up of the German day- care regime, and to the existence of potentially relevant unobserved dimensions of child care.",
"corpus_id": 154603753,
"score": 2,
"title": "A Multilevel Analysis of Child Care and the Transition to Motherhood in Western Germany"
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper examines changes in the accent class affiliation of c. 1900 words from Middle Korean into the modern South Kyengsang dialect. The data present the profile of a canonical analogical change: words are attracted to larger lexical classes and words of lower token frequency are more likely to change their affiliation. Several properties of the syllable onset and coda as well as syllable weight are shown to bias a word to particular accent classes. A novel word experiment suggests that speakers have tacit knowledge of some of these phonological biases but not others. The paper considers whether these biases can explain the default accent assigned to English loanwords and whether they can be modeled with weighted constraints in a Maxent grammar.",
"corpus_id": 1371864,
"title": "Accent classes in South Kyengsang Korean: Lexical drift, novel words and loanwords"
} | {
"abstract": "Typologically, pitch-accent languages stand between stress languages like Spanish and tone languages like Shona, and share properties of both. In a stress language typically just one syllable per word is accented and bears the major stress (cf. Spanish sábana ‘sheet’, sabána ‘plain’, Panamá). In a tone language the number of distinctions grows geometrically with the size of the word. So in Shona, which contrasts high vs. low tone, trisyllabic words have eight possible pitch patterns. In a canonical pitch-accent language such as Japanese, just one syllable (or mora) per word is singled out as distinctive, as in Spanish. But each syllable in the word is assigned a high or low tone (as in Shona); however, this assignment is predictable based on the location of the accented syllable. The Korean dialects spoken in the southeast Kyengsang and northeast Hamkyeng regions retain the pitch-accent distinctions that developed in Middle Korean (15 – 16 centuries). For example, in Hamkyeng a three-syllable word can have one of four possible pitch patterns that are assigned by rules that refer to the accented syllable. The accented syllable has a high tone and following syllables have low tones. Then the high tone of the accented syllable spreads up to the initial syllable, which is low. Thus, /MUcike/ ‘rainbow’ is realized as high-low-low, /aCImi/ ‘aunt’ is realized as low-high-low, and /menaRI/ ‘parsley’ is realized as low-high-high. An atonic word such as /cintallɛ/ ‘azalea’ has the same low-high-high pitch pattern as ‘parsley’ when realized alone. But the two types are distinguished when combined with a particle such as /MAN/ ‘only’ that bears an underlying accent: /menaRI+MAN/ ‘only parsely’ is realized as low-high-high-low while /cintallɛ+MAN/ ‘only azelea’ is realized as low-high-high-high. This difference can be explained by saying that the underlying accent on the particle is deleted if the stem bears an accent. The result is that only one syllable per word may bear an accent (similar to Spanish). On the other hand, since the accent is realized with pitch distinctions, tonal assimilation rules are prevalent in pitch-accent languages. This article begins with a description of the Middle Korean pitch-accent system and its evolution into the modern dialects, with a focus on Kyengsang. Alternative synchronic analyses of the accentual alternations that arise when a stem is combined with inflectional particles are then considered. The discussion proceeds to the phonetic realization of the contrasting accents, their realizations in compounds and phrases, and the adaptation of loanwords. The final sections treat the lexical restructuring and variable distribution of the pitch accents and their emergence from predictable word-final accent in an earlier stage of Proto-Korean.",
"corpus_id": 54190846,
"title": "Pitch Accent in Korean"
} | {
"abstract": "Oxidative stress impairs follicular development by inducing granulosa cell (GC) apoptosis, which involves enhancement of the transcriptional activity of the pro-apoptotic factor Forkhead box O1 (FoxO1). However, the mechanism by which oxidative stress promotes FoxO1 activity is still unclear. Here, we found that miR-181a was upregulated in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-treated GCs and a 3-nitropropionic acid (NP)-induced in vivo model of ovarian oxidative stress. miR-181a overexpression promoted GC apoptosis, whereas knockdown of endogenous miR-181a blocked H2O2-induced cell apoptosis. Moreover, we identified that Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a deacetylase that suppresses FoxO1 acetylation in GCs, was downregulated by miR-181a and reversed the promoting effects of H2O2 and miR-181a on FoxO1 acetylation and GC apoptosis. Importantly, decreased miR-181a expression in the in vivo ovarian oxidative stress model inhibited apoptosis by upregulating SIRT1 expression and FoxO1 deacetylation. Together, our results suggest that miR-181a mediates oxidative stress-induced FoxO1 acetylation and GC apoptosis by targeting SIRT1 both in vitro and in vivo.",
"corpus_id": 23388659,
"score": 0,
"title": "miR-181a increases FoxO1 acetylation and promotes granulosa cell apoptosis via SIRT1 downregulation"
} |
{
"abstract": "The Broad College of Business at Michigan State University offers a summer study abroad program (Global Finance Studies-GFS) for junior and senior students in Finance. Students spend four weeks in Namur, Belgium where they take Global Finance courses. Students are also provided opportunities to meet with local business and political leaders and experience the Belgian corporate culture. During their stay in Namur, students are integrated as members of the local community and are expected to demonstrate good communication skills as well as good citizenship.",
"corpus_id": 154795591,
"title": "Enhancing the Language and Business Culture Awareness of Study Abroad Students"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Growth of research addressing the relationship between culture and consumption is exponential [ Ogden D., Ogden J. and Schau HJ. Exploring the impact of culture and acculturation on consumer purchase decisions: toward a microcultural perspective. Academy Marketing Science Review 2004;3. ]. However culture is an elusive concept posing considerable difficulties for cross-cultural research [Clark T. International Marketing and national character: A review and proposal for an integrative theory. Journal of Marketing 1990; Oct.: 66–79.; Dawar N., Parker P. and Price L. A cross-cultural study of interpersonal information exchange. Journal of International Business Studies 1996; 27(3): 497–516.; Manrai L. and Manrai A. Current issues in the cross-cultural and cross-national consumer research. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 1996; 8 (3/4): 9–22.; McCort D. and Malhotra NK. Culture and consumer behavior: Toward an understanding of cross-cultural consumer behavior in International Marketing. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 1993; 6 (2): 91–127.; Nasif EG., Al-Daeaj H., Ebrahimi B. and Thibodeaux M. Methodological problems in cross-cultural research: An updated review. Management International Review 1991; 31 (1): 79–91.; Lenartowicz T. and Roth K. A framework for culture assessment. Journal of International Business Studies 1999; 30 (4): 781–98.]. This article examines different approaches to conceptualising and operationalizing culture in marketing studies. The article discusses the advantages of using cultural dimensions — in particular Hofstede's values. The article proposes a three-step approach to operationalize culture including nationality, Hofstede's cultural dimensions and measuring culture at the individual level.",
"corpus_id": 144804674,
"title": "Hofstede's dimensions of culture in international marketing studies"
} | {
"abstract": "The impact of cultural femininity on preference for methods of conflict processing was examined by studying college students from Canada and The Netherlands. These two countries were selected because the work of Hofstede (1980, Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage) on cultural dimensions stated that they are different in their cultural femininity, but similar along his other cultural dimensions. On the basis of Hofstede's analysis of cultural femininity, it was predicted and confirmed that Dutch subjects preferred harmony-enhancing procedures more, and confrontational procedures less, than did Canadian subjects. It was also found, quite unexpectedly, that Canadians were more likely to give in but less likely to ignore a dispute than were the Dutch. Furthermore, these cultural differences were related to perceived differences in the extent to which the various procedures were believed to facilitate (1) disputant process control and (2) animosity reduction. Implications of these findings for the development of a culture-general model of conflict processing are discussed.",
"corpus_id": 144321390,
"score": 2,
"title": "Effects of cultural femininity on preference for methods of conflict processing: A cross-cultural study"
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper examines conservatism and timeliness of earnings in the period surrounding the 1997 Asian financial crisis in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Prior research suggests that managers tended to be more aggressive in reporting good news and delayed recognition of bad news during the financial crisis (less conservative and less timely in financial reporting). After the crisis, these four countries implemented corporate governance measures to stabilize their financial systems and improve regulation and supervision (that should improve conservatism and timeliness). We examine and find that conservatism and timeliness of earnings during the crisis period are low, but improved in the post-crisis period. More importantly, conservatism and timeliness in the post-crisis period is even greater than in the pre-crisis period. We measure conservatism using Basu's model and the accumulation of non-operating accruals suggested by Givoly and Hayn. The findings from both measures are consistent with an increase in conservatism after the crisis period. Overall, the results indicate that corporate governance reforms in these four countries had a positive impact on conservatism and timeliness of earnings.",
"corpus_id": 154236308,
"title": "The Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis on Conservatism and Timeliness of Earnings: Evidence from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand"
} | {
"abstract": "I. An Overview of the Asian Financial Crisis. The Asian financial crisis: moral hazard in more ways than one (J. Jay Choi). Was capitalism or cronyism the cause of Asia's economic crisis (J.W. Dean). The tragic nature of the Asian economic crisis: an essay on virtuous and vicious cycles (R. Aggarwal). Origins and policy implications of the Asian financial crisis (P.-Sang Lee, Kyung Suh Park). Korean financial crisis and reform: an overview (Daesik Kim, Jaeha Park). The Asian five: from financial crisis to economic recovery (M. Faizul Islam). II. International Capital Flows and Crisis. East Asian crises and global capital flows: cause or effect? (C. Lingle, R. Mondejar). Financial liberalization, capital mobility, and financial crises (J. Yang). The impact of liberalization and regionalism on capital markets in emerging Asian economies (C. Bilson, V. Hooper and M. Jaugietis). III. Crisis and Reform in the Financial Sector. Two years after financial reform: capital market developments in Korea (W.-Y. Choi, Y.-H. Woo). Korean banking reform following the Asian financial crisis (Hisanori Kataoka). The Asian financial crisis: an evaluation of market intervention policies by Hong Kong regulators (A.K. Bhattacharya). IV. Crisis and Reform in the Industrial Sector. Asian crisis and implications for industrial policies (S.-H. Jwa, J.-H. Seo). Financial crisis and perspectives on Korean economic development (Young Back Choi). Ownership structure and family control in Korean conglomerates (Ungki Lim). The Asian paradox of miracle and debacle: an exploratory study (P.P. Li, T.-L. Chang). V. Cultural Factors and Post-Crisis Opportunities. How cultural factors led to risky antecedent market conditions and the 1997 Asian economic crisis (E.A. Kellerman, I. Alon). Sociopolitical analysis of Korean economic crisis of 1997 (S.J. Chang). Business in ASEAN's core. Post-crisis opportunities amidst the economic debris (Z.U. Ahmed et al.).",
"corpus_id": 153145967,
"title": "Asian financial crisis : financial, structural and international dimensions"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Purpose: Pilot study to assess the effect of augmentative and alternative communication technology to enhance language development in children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Materials and methods: Five children ages 5–10 years with permanent bilateral hearing loss who were identified with language underperformance participated in an individualized 24-week structured program using the application TouchChat WordPower on iPads®. Language samples were analyzed for changes in mean length of utterance, vocabulary words and mean turn length. Repeated measures models assessed change over time. Results: The baseline median mean length of utterance was 2.41 (range 1.09–6.63; mean 2.88) and significantly increased over time (p = 0.002) to a median of 3.68 at final visit (range 1.97–6.81; mean 3.62). At baseline, the median total number of words spoken per language sample was 251 (range 101–458), with 100 (range 36–100) different words spoken. Total words and different words significantly increased over time (β = 26.8 (7.1), p = 0.001 for total words; β = 8.0 (2.7), p = 0.008 for different words). Mean turn length values also slightly increased over time. Conclusions: Using augmentative and alternative communication technology on iPads® shows promise in supporting rapid language growth among elementary school-age children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing with language underperformance.",
"corpus_id": 4930147,
"score": 0,
"title": "Technology-assisted language intervention for children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing; a pilot study of augmentative and alternative communication for enhancing language development"
} |
{
"abstract": "The somatic cell nuclear transfer technique has been applied to various mammals to produce cloned animals; however, a standardized method is not applicable to all species. We aimed here to develop optimum procedures for somatic cell cloning in nonhuman primates, using common marmosets. First, we confirmed that parthenogenetic activation of in vitro matured oocytes was successfully induced by electrical stimulation (three cycles of 150 V/mm, 50 microsec x 2, 20 min intervals), and this condition was applied to the egg activation procedure in the subsequent experiments. Next, nuclear transfer to recipient enucleated oocytes was performed 1 h before, immediately after, or 1 h after egg activation treatment. The highest developmental rate was observed when nuclear transfer was performed 1 h before activation, but none of the cloned embryos developed beyond the eight-cell stage. To investigate the causes of the low developmental potential of cloned embryos, a study was performed to determine whether the presence of metaphase II (MII) chromosome in recipient ooplasm has an effect on developmental potential. As a result, only tetraploid cloned embryos produced by transferring a donor cell into a recipient bearing the MII chromosome developed into blastocysts (66.7%). In contrast, neither parthenogenetic embryos nor cloned embryos (whether diploid or tetraploid) produced using enucleated oocytes developed past the eight-cell stage. These results suggest that MII chromosome, or cytoplasm proximal to the MII chromosome, plays a major role in the development of cloned embryos in common marmosets.",
"corpus_id": 442418,
"title": "Preimplantation development of somatic cell cloned embryos in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)."
} | {
"abstract": "Oocyte-thymocyte mouse cell hybrids were produced using polyethylene glycol (PEG) and examined at the ultrastructural level. Fusion was accomplished either before or after activation of metaphase II oocytes. In both experimental variants thymocyte nuclei undergo remodelling which comprises the following sequence of events: nuclear envelope breakdown, initial chromatin condensation, and subsequent decondensation, nuclear envelope reformation and formation of nucleoli. In hybrids produced before oocyte activation but activated within a short time and cultured for several hours the thymocyte nuclei become identical to the female pronucleus. In the second variant (fusion with activated oocytes) the degree of remodeling of thymocyte nuclei is variable. Our observations demonstrate that between metaphase II, telophase of meiosis and early female pronuclear stages the mouse oocyte contains all \"factors\" necessary for remodelling of differentiated somatic nuclei and their development as if they were pronuclei.",
"corpus_id": 20778510,
"title": "Remodelling of thymocyte nuclei in activated mouse oocytes: an ultrastructural study."
} | {
"abstract": "The content of crude oil produced by Euphorbia characias calli vary significantly with the basal medium used. Contrarily to what occurs with in nature growing plants, either calli or suspended cells from this species show a positive correlation between biomass growth and specific crude oil production. Heterotrophic suspended cells from Euphorbia characias at growth exponential phase revealed crude oil contents of 4–5% of dry weight, similar to those found in nature Spring growing plants of this species.",
"corpus_id": 109497387,
"score": 1,
"title": "Energetic potentialities of in vitro cultures of plant cells: Crude oil produced by calli and cells of Euphoria characias"
} |
{
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nA liver resection under low central venous pressure (CVP) has become standard practice; however, the benefits beyond a reduction in blood loss are not well reported. Moreover, the precise method to achieve CVP reduction has not been established. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RTCs) was performed to assess the effects of CVP on clinical outcome and to identify the optimum method of CVP reduction.\n\n\nMETHODS\nEMBASE, Medline, PubMed and the Cochrane database were searched for trials comparing low CVP surgery with controls. The primary outcome was post-operative complications within 30 days. Secondary outcomes included estimated blood loss (EBL), blood transfusion rates and length of stay (LOS). Sub-group analysis was performed to assess the CVP reduction method on the outcome.\n\n\nRESULTS\nEight trials were identified. No difference was observed in the morbidity rate between the high CVP and control groups [odds ratio (OR) = 0.96 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.66, 1.40) P = 0.84, I(2) = 0%]. EBL [weighted mean difference (WMD) = -308.63 ml (95% CI -474.67, -142.58) P = < 0.001, I(2) = 73%] and blood transfusion rates [OR 0.65 (95% CI 0.44, 0.97) P = 0.040, I(2) = 37%] were significantly lower in the low CVP groups. Neither anaesthetic nor surgical methods of CVP reduction were associated with a reduced post-operative morbidity.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nLow CVP surgery is associated with a reduction in EBL; however, this does not translate into an improvement in post-operative morbidity. The optimum method of CVP reduction has not been identified.",
"corpus_id": 903573,
"title": "Central venous pressure and liver resection: a systematic review and meta-analysis."
} | {
"abstract": "SummaryAn increasing number of patients present for liver surgery. Given the complex pathophysiological changes in chronic liver disease (CLD), it is pivotal to understand the fundamentals of chronic and acute liver failure. This review will give an overview on related organ dysfunction as well as recommendations for perioperative management and treatment of liver failure-related symptoms.",
"corpus_id": 4843073,
"title": "Perioperative management of liver surgery—review on pathophysiology of liver disease and liver failure"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper explores the convergence of real per capita output in advanced industrialized economies. We start by observing that in a stochastic environment. convergence in per capita GDP requires that permanent shocks to one econ~ be associated with permanent shocks to other economies. Convergence is a natural outcome, of models where exogenous technical change migrates across countries with similar microeconomic specifications. Conversely, in a world where some component of permanent output movements is due to technical change whereas other components are due to domestic factors. national economies may diverge over time. we formalize a general definition of convergence using the notions of unit roots and cointegration developed in the time series literature. We construct bivariate and multivariate tests of convergence across advanced industrialized economies. Our evidence indicates that one cannot reject the no convergence null. Further. the estimated time series representation of cross-country output deviations exhibits substantial persistence. These results suggest that previous empirical work on convergence has neglected some aspects of the null hypothesis.",
"corpus_id": 153452640,
"score": 0,
"title": "Convergence of International Output Movements"
} |
{
"abstract": "BackgroundA major focus in nursing education is on the judgement of clinical performance, and it is a complex process due to the diverse nature of nursing practice. A holistic approach in assessment of competency is advocated. Difficulties in the development of valid and reliable assessment measures in nursing competency have resulted in the development of assessment instruments with an increase in face and content validity, but few studies have tested these instruments psychometrically. It is essential to develop a holistic assessment tool to meet the needs of the clinical education. The study aims to develop a Holistic Clinical Assessment Tool (HCAT) and test its psychometric properties.MethodsThe HCAT was developed based on the systematic literature review and the findings of qualitative studies. An expert panel was invited to evaluate the content validity of the tool. A total of 130 final-year nursing undergraduate students were recruited to evaluate the psychometric properties (i.e. factor structure, internal consistency and test-retest reliability) of the tool.ResultsThe HCAT has good content validity with content validity index of .979. The exploratory factor analysis reveals a four-factor structure of the tool. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the HCAT are satisfactory with Cronbach alpha ranging from .789 to .965 and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient ranging from .881 to .979 for the four subscales and total scale.ConclusionsHCAT has the potential to be used as a valid measure to evaluate clinical competence in nursing students, and provide specific and ongoing feedback to enhance the holistic clinical learning experience. In addition, HCAT functions as a tool for self-reflection, peer-assessment and guides preceptors in clinical teaching and assessment.",
"corpus_id": 1056460,
"title": "Development and psychometric testing of Holistic Clinical Assessment Tool (HCAT) for undergraduate nursing students"
} | {
"abstract": "AIM\nTo explore the expected and achieved competency levels of new graduate nurses.\n\n\nBACKGROUND\nThere are global concerns about a perceived disconnect between the educational preparation of new graduates and the expectations of employers about their work-readiness. It is important to understand competency levels expected and achieved of new graduate nurses.\n\n\nMETHOD(S)\nThe study was conducted in three phases: the identification of competencies, development of a survey instrument and exploration of levels of competency from the perspectives of key stakeholders.\n\n\nRESULTS\nNew graduates were well-prepared for demonstrating respect to patients, but needed to be closely supported when providing emergency care. Results highlighted that new graduates felt less competent than graduating students in those competencies related to legal and ethical practice. Importantly, expectations about new graduates' competency varied between educators and managers.\n\n\nCONCLUSION(S)\nThe findings provide important information about new graduates' competency levels, revealing a mismatch in the perception of key stakeholders about competency levels. This has important implications for building new graduates readiness for practice and highlights the importance of collaboration between key stakeholders to address competency gaps.\n\n\nIMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT\nSupportive opportunities should be provided to new graduate nurses to fill gaps in beginner competency.",
"corpus_id": 220671601,
"title": "Exploration of the expected and achieved competency levels of new graduate nurses."
} | {
"abstract": "INTRODUCTION\nThis phenomenological study, conducted in rural Australia, explored the experiences of registered nurses (RNs) responsible for assessing the clinical competence of undergraduate nursing students. The purpose of the study was to gain insight into the experiences of a group of registered nurses who assess student competence by exploring how they perform the assessment process. A key assumption on which this study was based is that the participants are 'expert nurses', as defined by Benner.\n\n\nMETHOD\nParticipants were recruited using purposive sampling from a population of registered nurses who assessed the clinical performance of undergraduate nursing students studying at a rural university in New South Wales, Australia. Individual unstructured interviews were conducted and audiotaped with the participants' permission. The analysed data were given to all participants to check for accuracy and validation and a thematic analysis of the data was conducted.\n\n\nRESULTS\nFour themes were identified; the major theme, described in this article, was identified in all the narratives. The participants all acknowledged that they use their expert nursing knowledge to assist them when assessing the clinical competence of nursing students. The participants used a variety of terms to describe this type of knowledge such as intuition, instinct, gut feeling and 'just knowing'.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nWhile the findings of this study confirmed that experienced nurses unconsciously use their expert nursing knowledge when making decisions about students' competence, the findings also indicated a lack of awareness or underestimation of the value of expert clinical knowledge. These findings reinforce the need for further investigation to determine the role of expert nursing knowledge in the clinical competency assessment process. This is particularly significant for rural registered nurses employed in small health-care facilities, who often assume the role of assessors of student clinical competence.",
"corpus_id": 22554070,
"score": 2,
"title": "An exploration of the role that expert knowledge plays in the assessment of undergraduate clinical competence: registered nurses' experiences."
} |
{
"abstract": "In cloud-based stream processing services, the maximum sustainable throughput (MST) is defined as the maximum throughput that a system composed of a fixed number of virtual machines (VMs) can ingest indefinitely. If the incoming data rate exceeds the system’s MST, unprocessed data accumulates, eventually making the system inoperable. Thus, it is important for the service provider to keep the MST always larger than the incoming data rate by allocating a sufficient number of VMs. In this paper, we propose a cost-effective framework to predict MST values for a given number of VMs for stream processing applications with various scalability characteristics. Since it may be difficult to find one prediction model that works well for various stream processing applications, we first train several models using linear regression for each application. We then select the best-fitting model for the target application through the evaluation of extra MST samples. To save cost and time to collect MST samples while achieving high prediction accuracy, we statistically determine the most effective set of VMs within a budget. For evaluation, we use Intel’s Storm benchmarks running on Amazon EC2 cloud. Using up to 128 VMs, experiments show that the models trained by our framework predict MST values with up to 15.8% average prediction error. Further, we evaluate our prediction models with simulation-based elastic VM scheduling for a realistic data streaming workload. Simulation results show that with 20% over-provisioning, our framework is able to achieve less than 0.1% SLA violations for the majority of test applications. We save 36% cost compared to a static VM scheduling that covers the peak workload to achieve the same level of SLA violations.",
"corpus_id": 34452850,
"title": "Maximum Sustainable Throughput Prediction for Large-Scale Data Streaming Systems"
} | {
"abstract": "IoT big data requires new machine learning methods able to scale to large size of data arriving at high speed. Decision trees are popular machine learning models since they are very effective, yet easy to interpret and visualize. In the literature, we can find distributed algorithms for learning decision trees, and also streaming algorithms, but not algorithms that combine both features. In this paper we present the Vertical Hoeffding Tree (VHT), the first distributed streaming algorithm for learning decision trees. It features a novel way of distributing decision trees via vertical parallelism. The algorithm is implemented on top of Apache SAMOA, a platform for mining big data streams, and thus able to run on real-world clusters. Our experiments to study the accuracy and throughput of VHT prove its ability to scale while attaining superior performance compared to sequential decision trees.",
"corpus_id": 6279790,
"title": "VHT: Vertical hoeffding tree"
} | {
"abstract": "Cloud computing enables end users to execute high-performance computing applications by renting the required computing power. This pay-for-use approach enables small enterprises and startups to run HPC-related businesses with a significant saving in capital investment and a short time to market. When deploying an application in the cloud, the users may a) fail to understand the interactions of the application with the software layers implementing the cloud system, b) be unaware of some hardware details of the cloud system, and c) fail to understand how sharing part of the cloud system with other users might degrade application performance. These misunderstandings may lead the users to select suboptimal cloud configurations in terms of cost or performance. To aid the users in selecting the optimal cloud configuration for their applications, we suggest that the cloud provider generate a prediction model for the provided system. We propose applying machine-learning techniques to generate this prediction model. First, the cloud provider profiles a set of training applications by means of a hardware-independent profiler and then executes these applications on a set of training cloud configurations to collect actual performance values. The prediction model is trained to learn the dependencies of actual performance data on the application profile and cloud configuration parameters. The advantage of using a hardware-independent profiler is that the cloud users and the cloud provider can analyze applications on different machines and interface with the same prediction model. We validate the proposed methodology for a cloud system implemented with OpenStack. We apply the prediction model to the NAS parallel benchmarks. The resulting relative error is below 15% and the Pareto optimal cloud configurations finally found when maximizing application speed and minimizing execution cost on the prediction model are also at most 15% away from the actual optimal solutions.",
"corpus_id": 43120000,
"score": -1,
"title": "Predicting Cloud Performance for HPC Applications: A User-Oriented Approach"
} |
{
"abstract": "Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received attention for a myriad of potential applications including catalysis, gas storage, and gas separation. Coordinatively unsaturated metal ions often enable key functional behavior of these materials. Most commonly, MOFs have been metalated from the condensed phase (i.e., from solution). Here we introduce a new synthetic strategy capable of metallating MOFs from the gas phase: atomic layer deposition (ALD). Key to enabling metalation by ALD In MOFs (AIM) was the synthesis of NU-1000, a new, thermally stable, Zr-based MOF with spatially oriented -OH groups and large 1D mesopores and apertures.",
"corpus_id": 5573163,
"title": "Vapor-phase metalation by atomic layer deposition in a metal-organic framework."
} | {
"abstract": "A one-pot three-component cascade reaction proceeds by way of a Lewis acid-catalyzed Knoevenagel condensation/Nazarov cyclization/electrophilic fluorination sequence to afford fluorinated 1-indanone derivatives in moderate to good yields with high diastereoselectivities.",
"corpus_id": 13176980,
"title": "Stereoselective construction of fluorinated indanone derivatives via a triple cascade Lewis acid-catalyzed reaction."
} | {
"abstract": "Among the artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) regimens, artemisinin derivative, artemether in combination with lumefantrine (artemether–lumefantrine, AL) has achieved excellent results in the fight against malarial scourge. In this study, we evaluated the toxic potential of these drugs at the therapeutic doses in female Wistar rats. Animals were randomly divided into four groups: those administered 1% Tween 80 (control), those administered artemether (4 mg/kg body weight), those administered lumefantrine (24 mg/kg body weight), and those coadministered artemether (4 mg/kg body weight) and lumefantrine (24 mg/kg body weight). The drugs were orally administered twice daily for 3 days by gastric intubation after which selected plasma biochemical indices, and erythrocytes antioxidant defence and lipid peroxidation markers were evaluated. Coadministration of artemether and lumefantrine raised liver and renal function markers and increased atherogenic index. While reduced glutathione, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and catalase activities were reduced, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-s-transferase activities increased in all the treated groups compared to the control group. The drugs caused significant (p < 0.05) elevation of malondialdehyde (MDA) levels compared to the control group. These results imply that coadministration of artemether and lumefantrine may increase the risks of atherosclerosis as well as liver and renal function impairments in the users. In addition, the drugs may also promote oxidative stress in the erythrocytes.",
"corpus_id": 3330064,
"score": 1,
"title": "Influence of coadministration of artemether and lumefantrine on selected plasma biochemical and erythrocyte oxidative stress indices in female Wistar rats"
} |
{
"abstract": "Summary. Our immunocytochemical observations reveal that the muscle present in the tips of the arms of the Antarctic cushionstar Odontaster validus contains caldesmon and calponin but not troponin. Thus, the muscle clearly belongs to the smooth muscle category. Distributions of contractile proteins such as actin, myosin (the latter a typical vertebrate muscle filament protein), paramyosin, and miniparamyosin (the latter two being characteristic of thick invertebrate muscle filaments) were also determined immunocytochemically. The results suggest that the thin filaments of the starfish smooth muscle are similar to those of the vertebrate muscle, but that the thick filaments differ from those of vertebrates and possess traits that are also seen in the muscle organization of invertebrates. The absence from the O. validus muscle of titin and nebulin, proteins so far known almost exclusively from the striated vertebrate muscle, comes as no surprise, but immunoreactivity to mini-titin (a protein of the same family as titin and its replacement in invertebrates) was strong and unambiguously recognizable between filaments. Odontaster validus' histochemical characteristics may be a reflection of the phylogenetic position of the echinoderms as deuterostome invertebrates or they may express an adaptation of the muscle to the harsh environmental conditions under which it has to function in the Antarctic water.",
"corpus_id": 3751,
"title": "First immunocytochemical study of echinoderm smooth muscle: the Antarctic cushionstar Odontaster validus Koehler (Echinodermata, Asteroidea)"
} | {
"abstract": "In muscle cells, the excitation-contraction cycle is triggered by an increase in the concentration of free cytoplasmic Ca(2+). The Ca(2+)-ATPase present in the membrane of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) pumps Ca(2+) from the cytosol into this intracellular compartment, thus promoting muscle relaxation. The microsomal fraction derived from the longitudinal smooth muscle of the body wall from the sea cucumber Ludwigothurea grisea retains a membrane-bound Ca(2+)-ATPase that is able to transport Ca(2+) mediated by ATP hydrolysis. Immunological analyses reveal that monoclonal antibodies against sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA1 and SERCA2a) cross-react with a 110 kDa band, indicating that the sea cucumber Ca(2+)-ATPase is a SERCA-type ATPase. Like the mammalian Ca(2+)-ATPase isoforms so far described, the enzyme also shows a high affinity for Ca(2+) and ATP, has an optimum pH of approximately 7.0 and is sensitive to thapsigargin and cyclopiazonic acid, specific inhibitors of the SERCA pumps. However, unlike the mammalian SERCA isoforms, concentrations of ATP above 2 mmol l(-1) inhibit Ca(2+) transport, but not ATP hydrolysis, in sea cucumber vesicles, suggesting that high ATP concentrations uncouple the Ca(2+)-ATPase. Another unique feature observed with the sea cucumber Ca(2+)-ATPase is the high dependence of maximal activity on K(+) or Na(+). Similar activation promoted by these cations was observed with various mammalian Ca(2+)-ATPase preparations when they were incubated in the presence of low concentrations of sulphated polysaccharides. In control experiments, K(+) and Na(+) have almost no effect on Ca(2+) transport, but in the presence of heparin or fucosylated chondroitin sulphate, the activity of the different mammalian Ca(2+)-ATPases is inhibited and they are activated by either K(+) or Na(+) in a manner similar to the native sea cucumber ATPase. These results led us to investigate the possible occurrence of a highly sulphated polysaccharide on vesicles from the SR of sea cucumber smooth muscle that could act as an 'endogenous' Ca(2+)-ATPase inhibitor. In fact, SR vesicles derived from the sea cucumber, but not from rabbit muscle, contain a highly sulphated polysaccharide. After extraction and purification of these polysaccharide molecules, their effect was tested on vesicles obtained from rabbit muscle. This compound inhibited Ca(2+) uptake in rabbit SR vesicles, at concentrations lower than heparin, and restored the dependence on monovalent cations. These results strongly suggest that the sea cucumber Ca(2+)-ATPase is activated by monovalent cations because of the presence of endogenous sulphated polysaccharides.",
"corpus_id": 2718856,
"title": "Ca(2+ )transport by the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase in sea cucumber (Ludwigothurea grisea) muscle."
} | {
"abstract": "Classic null models for speciation and extinction give rise to phylogenies that differ in distribution from empirical phylogenies. In particular, empirical phylogenies are less balanced and have branching times closer to the root compared to phylogenies predicted by common null models. This difference might be due to null models of the speciation and extinction process being too simplistic, or due to the empirical datasets not being representative of random phylogenies. A third possibility arises because phylogenetic reconstruction methods often infer gene trees rather than species trees, producing an incongruity between models that predict species tree patterns and empirical analyses that consider gene trees. We investigate the extent to which the difference between gene trees and species trees under a combined birth–death and multispecies coalescent model can explain the difference in empirical trees and birth–death species trees. We simulate gene trees embedded in simulated species trees and investigate their difference with respect to tree balance and branching times. We observe that the gene trees are less balanced and typically have branching times closer to the root than the species trees. Empirical trees from TreeBase are also less balanced than our simulated species trees, and model gene trees can explain an imbalance increase of up to 8% compared to species trees. However, we see a much larger imbalance increase in empirical trees, about 100%, meaning that additional features must also be causing imbalance in empirical trees. This simulation study highlights the necessity of revisiting the assumptions made in phylogenetic analyses, as these assumptions, such as equating the gene tree with the species tree, might lead to a biased conclusion.",
"corpus_id": 3646466,
"score": 1,
"title": "Does Gene Tree Discordance Explain the Mismatch between Macroevolutionary Models and Empirical Patterns of Tree Shape and Branching Times?"
} |
{
"abstract": "Graves' disease has been associated with different human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes in different races. To evaluate the association of HLA type in Taiwanese with Graves' disease, the HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 alleles in a total of 236 Taiwanese adults with Graves' disease and 533 racially matched normal control subjects were examined using the PCR-SSOP (sequence specific oligonucleotide probe) technique. The prevalence of HLA-A*0207, -B*2704, -B*4601, and -DRB1*0901 among patients with Graves' disease was found to be increased, with odds ratios (OR) of 2.21, 3.82, 1.76 and 1.62, respectively. However, after correction for multiple comparisons, the relative risk of HLA-A*0207 susceptibility to Graves' disease remained statistically significant and the haplotype HLA-A*3303 -B*5801 -DRB1*0301 had a significantly protective effect. None of the other 2- or 3-locus haplotypes showed any significantly increased risk. Although HLA-DRB1*1405 showed an increased relative risk in patients with GO (Graves' opthalmopathy) (OR 4.61) when compared with patients without GO, the relative risk after adjusting for the number of comparisons was not significant. Taiwanese patients with Graves' disease have HLA-associated susceptibility genes which are similar to those found in Chinese patients in Hong Kong and Singapore. However, the finding in this study of a higher frequency of HLA-A*0207 in Taiwanese with Graves' disease has not been documented in any other ethnic group.",
"corpus_id": 2776464,
"title": "The association of HLA -A, -B, and -DRB1 genotypes with Graves' disease in Taiwanese people."
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract A systematic review of genetic studies of thyroid disorders in Taiwan identified studies of gene mutations involved in the synthesis and binding of thyroid hormone, as well as mutations of proto‐oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in thyroid cancer. Studies related to gene polymorphisms in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) and thyroid cancer were also reviewed. The most prevalent mutations in the Han‐Chinese population were c.2268insT in the thyroid peroxidase (TPO) gene and c.919‐2A>G in the Pendred syndrome (PDS) gene. Additional mutations have also been revealed in the genes encoding TPO (n = 5), thyroglobulin (TG; n = 6), pendrin (n = 2), and thyroxine‐binding globulin (TBG; n = 2), which were novel at the time they were reported. The prevalence of various somatic mutations in differentiated thyroid cancer was similar in Taiwan and Western countries, with the RAS kinase mutation and tyrosine receptor kinase (TRK) and rearranged during transfection (RET) proto‐oncogenes being detected in lower frequencies and the B‐type RAF kinase (BRAF) mutation accounting for the majority of cases. Recent microRNA analysis revealed an association between miR146b and the BRAF mutation, which was associated with poor prognosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Susceptibility to Graves’ disease (GD) was linked to the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region. The associated alleles were different in Han‐Chinese and Caucasians; HLA‐DPB1*0501, the major allele in Taiwan, has a low frequency in the West. By contrast, a high frequency of HLA‐DRB1*0301 was detected in Caucasians but not Han‐Chinese. In addition to the HLA region, cytotoxic T lymphocyte‐associated molecule‐4 (CTLA4) gene polymorphisms +49G>A and +6230G>A (CT60) were positively associated with GD. The GG genotype and G allele of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) +49G>A were also related to relapse of Graves’ hyperthyroidism after antithyroid drug withdrawal. Differences in the genetic patterns between Han‐Chinese and Caucasians for some thyroid disorders suggest the importance of variable genetic influences in different populations.",
"corpus_id": 3037284,
"title": "A systematic review of genetic studies of thyroid disorders in Taiwan"
} | {
"abstract": "Book Review. Hartman, F. T. (2000). Don't park your brain outside: A practical guide to improving shareholder value with SMART project management (1st ed.). Upper Darby, Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute.",
"corpus_id": 108556573,
"score": 0,
"title": "Don't park your brain outside: A practical guide to improving shareholder value with SMART project management . Book review"
} |
{
"abstract": "Objects in scenes interact with each other in complex ways. A key observation is that these interactions manifest themselves as predictable visual patterns in the image. Discovering and detecting these structured patterns is an important step towards deeper scene understanding. It goes beyond using either individual objects or the scene as a whole as the semantic unit. In this work, we promote \"groups of objects\". They are high-order composites of objects that demonstrate consistent spatial, scale, and viewpoint interactions with each other. These groups of objects are likely to correspond to a specific layout of the scene. They can thus provide cues for the scene category and can also prime the likely locations of other objects in the scene. It is not feasible to manually generate a list of all possible groupings of objects we find in our visual world. Hence, we propose an algorithm that automatically discovers groups of arbitrary numbers of participating objects from a collection of images labeled with object categories. Our approach builds a 4-dimensional transform space of location, scale and viewpoint, and efficiently identifies all recurring compositions of objects across images. We then model the discovered groups of objects using the deformable parts-based model. Our experiments on a variety of datasets show that using groups of objects can significantly boost the performance of object detection and scene categorization.",
"corpus_id": 3522148,
"title": "Automatic discovery of groups of objects for scene understanding"
} | {
"abstract": "High-level image representations have drawn increasing attention in visual recognition, e.g., scene classification, since the invention of the object bank. The object bank represents an image as a response map of a large number of pretrained object detectors and has achieved superior performance for visual recognition. In this paper, based on the object bank representation, we propose the object-to-class (O2C) distances to model scene images. In particular, four variants of O2C distances are presented, and with the O2C distances, we can represent the images using the object bank by lower-dimensional but more discriminative spaces, called distance spaces, which are spanned by the O2C distances. Due to the explicit computation of O2C distances based on the object bank, the obtained representations can possess more semantic meanings. To combine the discriminant ability of the O2C distances to all scene classes, we further propose to kernalize the distance representation for the final classification. We have conducted extensive experiments on four benchmark data sets, UIUC-Sports, Scene-15, MIT Indoor, and Caltech-101, which demonstrate that the proposed approaches can significantly improve the original object bank approach and achieve the state-of-the-art performance.",
"corpus_id": 3081352,
"title": "Learning Object-to-Class Kernels for Scene Classification"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper introduces Dynamic 3D Printing, a fast and reconstructable shape formation system. Dynamic 3D Printing can assemble an arbitrary three-dimensional shape from a large number of small physical elements. Also, it can disassemble the shape back to elements and reconstruct a new shape. Dynamic 3D Printing combines the capabilities of 3D printers and shape displays: Like conventional 3D printing, it can generate arbitrary and graspable three-dimensional shapes, while allowing shapes to be rapidly formed and reformed as in a shape display. To demonstrate the idea, we describe the design and implementation of Dynablock, a working prototype of a dynamic 3D printer. Dynablock can form a three-dimensional shape in seconds by assembling 3,000 9 mm blocks, leveraging a 24 x 16 pin-based shape display as a parallel assembler. Dynamic 3D printing is a step toward achieving our long-term vision in which 3D printing becomes an interactive medium, rather than the means for fabrication that it is today. In this paper, we explore possibilities for this vision by illustrating application scenarios that are difficult to achieve with conventional 3D printing or shape display systems.",
"corpus_id": 52981311,
"score": -1,
"title": "Dynablock: Dynamic 3D Printing for Instant and Reconstructable Shape Formation"
} |
{
"abstract": "Research has been consistently showing the role of zinc (Zn) in prostate function. In this article, we review the current literature on the anatomy and main functions of the prostate, highlighting the role of zinc. In particular, we will review the etiology of benign prostate enlargement (BPH), its prevalence in men over 50, the likelihood of BPH becoming prostate cancer (PCa), and explain the relationship of zinc and apoptosis in the prostate cells and the implications for BPH and PCa. We present a model that explains how endogenous factors provoke excretion of zinc or limit zinc absorption, and how exogenous factors like nutrition and drugs regularly used in men over 50 can significantly decrease zinc status and thereby increase the risk of BPH. Finally, we explain how Zn amino acid (AA) complexes may be capable of avoiding antagonists and inhibitors of zinc absorption, thereby increasing the bioavailability of zinc for the necessary biological processes in the prostate.",
"corpus_id": 220975321,
"title": "Zinc Deficiency in Men Over 50 and Its Implications in Prostate Disorders"
} | {
"abstract": "Purpose The severity of prostate cancer (PCa), which determines the disease progression, is theorized to be a function of zinc status. Hence, this study was structured to determine the impact of zinc status on the severity and progression of PCa disease. Materials and Methods This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 220 histologically-confirmed PCa patients and 220 age-matched controls, conducted prospectively in a Nigerian tertiary hospital. Plasma zinc, prostate-specific antigen, creatinine, fasting glucose, and estimated glomerular filtration rate were determined for both study groups. The International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grades and the American Joint Committee on Cancer clinical staging were employed as indices for PCa severity (grade) and progression (stage) respectively. Results The PCa patients had markedly reduced plasma zinc status compared to controls (cases: 9.42±3.02 µmol/L versus controls: 15.23±4.47 µmol/L; p<0.001). Low zinc status was more pronounced within the severe grade and advanced PCa disease subgroups (p<0.001). Inverse relationships existed between zinc status and ISUP grades among the entire PCa patient (p<0.001) and the categorized PCa grade and stage subgroups (p<0.001). Low zinc status had significant impact of predicting severe (crude=odds ratio [OR], 8.714; p<0.001; age-adjusted=OR, 11.152; p<0.001) and advanced (crude=OR, 17.160; p<0.001; age-adjusted=OR, 18.927; p<0.001) PCa disease. Conclusions This study suggests that low plasma zinc status is associated with severe grade and advanced PCa disease. However, further well-designed studies with large sample sizes are warranted to confirm these associations.",
"corpus_id": 155104211,
"title": "The impact of plasma zinc status on the severity of prostate cancer disease"
} | {
"abstract": "Introduction: With the exclusion of non-melanomatous skin malignancy, prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most prevalent cancer in men globally. It has been reported that the majority of men will develop benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) by the time they reach their 60s. Together, these prostatic diseases have a significant morbidity and mortality affecting over a billion men throughout the world. The risk of developing prostate cancer of men suffering BPH is one that has resulted in a healthy debate amongst the urological community. Here, we try to address this conundrum with clinical and basic science evidence. Materials and Methods: Data from an online search and contemporary data presented at international urological congresses was reviewed. Results: BPH and PCa can be linked together at a molecular and cellular level on genetic, hormonal, and inflammatory platforms suggesting that these prostatic diseases have common pathophysiological driving factors. Epidemiological studies are weighted towards the presence of BPH having a greater risk for a man to develop PCa in his lifetime; however, a conclusion of causality cannot be confidently stated. Conclusion: The future workload healthcare practitioners will face regarding BPH, and PCa will substantially increase. Further basic science and large epidemiological studies using a global cohort of men are required prior to the urological community confidently counseling their patients with BPH with regards to their PCa risk.",
"corpus_id": 2859748,
"score": -1,
"title": "BPH and prostate cancer risk"
} |
{
"abstract": "We propose a novel non-linear registration strategy which seeks an optimal deformation that maps corresponding boundaries of similar orientation. Our approach relies on a local similarity metric based on gradient orientation alignment and distance to the nearest inferred boundary and is evaluated on a reduced set of locations corresponding to inferred boundaries. The deformation model is characterized as the integration of a time-constant velocity field and optimization is performed in coarse to fine multi-level strategy with a gradient ascent technique. Our approach is computational efficient since it relies on a sparse selection of voxels corresponding to detected boundaries, yielding robust and accurate results with reduced processing times. We demonstrate quantitative results in the context of the non-linear registration of inter-patient magnetic resonance brain volumes obtained from a public dataset (CUMC12). Our proposed approach achieves a similar level of accuracy as other state-of-the-art methods but with processing times as short as 1.5 minutes. We also demonstrate preliminary qualitative results in the time-sensitive registration contexts of registering MR brain volumes to intra-operative ultrasound for improved guidance in neurosurgery.",
"corpus_id": 129455,
"title": "SymBA: Diffeomorphic Registration Based on Gradient Orientation Alignment and Boundary Proximity of Sparsely Selected Voxels"
} | {
"abstract": "Two methods for incr easing performance of th e backpropagat ion learning algorithm are present ed and their result s are compared with those obtained by optimi zing par ameters in the standard method . The first method requires adaptation of a scalar learning rat e in order to decrease th e energy value along the gradient direction in a close-to-optimal way. Th e second is derived from the conjugate gradient method with inexact linear searches . The strict locality requirement is relaxed but parallelism of computation is maintained, allowing efficient use of concurrent computation. For medium-size probl ems, typical speedups of one order of magnitude are obtained.",
"corpus_id": 17193734,
"title": "Accelerated Backpropagation Learning: Two Optimization Methods"
} | {
"abstract": "PurposeRespiratory motion of lung lesions is a limiting factor of quantification of positron emission tomography (PET) data. As some important applications of PET such as therapy monitoring and radiation therapy treatment planning require precise quantification, it is necessary to correct PET data for motion artefacts.MethodsThe method is based on list-mode data. First, the motion of the lesion was detected by a centre of mass approach. In the second step, data were sorted corresponding to the breathing state. A volume of interest (VOI) around the lesion was defined manually, and the motion of the lesion in this VOI was measured with reference to the end-expiration image. Then, all voxels in the VOI were shifted according to the measured lesion motion. After optimisation of parameters and verification of the method using a computer-controlled motion phantom, it was applied to nine patients with solitary lesions of the lung.ResultsFifty percent difference in measured lesion volume and 26% in mean activity concentration were found comparing PET data before and after applying the correction algorithm when simulating a motion amplitude of 28 mm in phantom studies. For patients, maximum changes of 27% in volume and 13% in mean standardised uptake values (SUV) were found.ConclusionAs respiratory motion is affecting quantification of PET images, correction algorithms are essential for applications that require precise quantification. We described a method which improves the quantification of moving lesions by a local motion correction using list-mode data without increasing acquisition time or reduced signal-to-noise ratio of the images.",
"corpus_id": 2480429,
"score": 2,
"title": "Local motion correction for lung tumours in PET/CT—first results"
} |
{
"abstract": "Many studies revealed that obesity was a risk factor for various cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In a cohort study with a population of around 900,000, males with 35 kg/m or higher body mass index (BMI) had 4.4 times as high dying risk from liver cancer as the control group with normal BMI (18.5 -24.9 kg/m). According to a recent meta-analysis, the relative risk of liver cancer was 1.17% in overweight patients and 1.89% in obese patients compared to normal weight controls. Furthermore, obesity can be a cause of metabolic syndromes including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes as well as a broad spectrum of nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD) including simple steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and cirrhosis. A populationbased case control study showed that diabetes tripled the HCC risk, and in another large prospective cohort study, the hazard ratio of HCC was 2.16. Furthermore, the correlation between diabetes and HCC was verified through various meta-analyses. The NAFLD which is a hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome was recently found to develop into cirrhosis and cause HCC, and it was regarded as the main cause of cryptogenic cirrhosis. Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is one of the most important causes of HCC, accounting for around 60% in Africa and Asia and around 20% in western countries. Among the patients infected by hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Asia, the incidence rate of HCC is estimated to be 0.2% per year in inactive carriers, 0.6% in chronic hepatitis without cirrhosis patients, and 3.7% in compensated cirrhosis patients. It is generally known that HBV-infected subjects have around 100 times as high risk of HCC as uninfected subjects. A large prospective cohort study has shown that HBV DNA titer is closely associated with HCC risk. Many meta-analyses already have revealed that nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) decrease the occurrence of HCC in CHB patients. A recent study on CHB patients treated with entecavir (ETV) showed that 5 year HCC incidence rate was decreased significantly by 3.7% in the ETV treated group compare to 13.7% in the historical matched untreated control group. However, unlike chronic hepatitis C (CHC), it is not clear whether obesity is associated with the development of HCC in CHB patients. In a study in Taiwan which followed up 23,820 persons for 14 years, anti-HCV seropositive people with obesity of 30 kg/ m or higher BMI had four times higher risk of HCC, and people with no hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections had twice higher risk of HCC. However, obesity was not correlated with HCC risk in HBs antigen seropositive people. DiaSee Article on Page 339 Does obesity increase the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B patients?",
"corpus_id": 587095,
"title": "Does obesity increase the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic hepatitis B patients?"
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND & AIMS\nAn association between diabetes and chronic liver disease has been reported. However, the temporal relationship between these conditions remains unknown.\n\n\nMETHODS\nWe identified all patients with a hospital discharge diagnosis of diabetes between 1985 and 1990 using the computerized records of the Department of Veterans Affairs. We randomly assigned 3 patients without diabetes for every patient with diabetes. We excluded patients with concomitant liver disease. The remaining cohort was followed through 2000 for the occurrence of chronic nonalcoholic liver disease (CNLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hazard rate ratios (HRR) were determined in Cox proportional hazard survival analysis.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe study cohort comprised 173,643 patients with diabetes and 650,620 patients without diabetes. Most were men (98%). Patients with diabetes were older (62 vs. 54 years) than patients without diabetes. The incidence of chronic nonalcoholic liver disease was significantly higher among patients with diabetes (incidence rate: 18.13 vs. 9.55 per 10,000 person-years, respectively, P < 0.0001). Similar results were obtained for HCC (incidence rate: 2.39 vs. 0.87 per 10,000 person-years, respectively, P < 0.0001). Diabetes was associated with an HRR of 1.98 (95% CI: 1.88 to 2.09, P < 0.0001) of CNLD and an HRR of 2.16 (1.86 to 2.52, P < 0.0001) of hepatocellular carcinoma. Diabetes carried the highest risk among patients with longer than 10 years of follow-up.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nAmong men with diabetes, the risk of CNLD and HCC is doubled. This increase in risk is independent of alcoholic liver disease, viral hepatitis, or demographic features.",
"corpus_id": 40509127,
"title": "Diabetes increases the risk of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma."
} | {
"abstract": "This paper develops methods for constructing asymptotically valid confidence intervals for the date of a single break in multivariate time series, including I(0), I(1), and deterministically trending regressors. Although the width of the asymptotic confidence interval does not decrease as the sample size increases, it is inversely related to the number of series which have a common break date, so there are substantial gains to multivariate inference about break dates. These methods are applied to two empirical examples: the mean growth rate of output in three European countries, and the mean growth rate of U.S. consumption, investment, and output.",
"corpus_id": 154428371,
"score": 0,
"title": "Testing for and Dating Common Breaks in Multivariate Time Series"
} |
{
"abstract": "Background Mass media campaigns and quitlines are both important distinct components of tobacco control programmes around the world. But when used as an integrated package, the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are not well described. We therefore aimed to estimate the health gain, health equity impacts and cost–utility of the package of a national quitline service and its promotion in the mass media. Methods We adapted an established Markov and multistate life-table macro-simulation model. The population was all New Zealand adults in 2011. Effect sizes and intervention costs were based on past New Zealand quitline data. Health system costs were from a national data set linking individual health events to costs. Results The 1-year operation of the existing intervention package of mass media promotion and quitline service was found to be net cost saving to the health sector for all age groups, sexes and ethnic groups (saving $NZ84 million; 95%uncertainty interval 60–115 million in the base-case model). It also produced greater per capita health gains for Māori (indigenous) than non-Māori (2.2 vs 0.73 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) per 1000 population, respectively). The net cost saving of the intervention was maintained in all sensitivity and scenario analyses for example at a discount rate of 6% and when the intervention effect size was quartered (given the possibility of residual confounding in our estimates of smoking cessation). Running the intervention for 20 years would generate an estimated 54 000 QALYs and $NZ1.10 billion (US$0.74 billion) in cost savings. Conclusions The package of a quitline service and its promotion in the mass media appears to be an effective means to generate health gain, address health inequalities and save health system costs. Nevertheless, the role of this intervention needs to be compared with other tobacco control and health sector interventions, some of which may be even more cost saving.",
"corpus_id": 2571565,
"title": "A national quitline service and its promotion in the mass media: modelling the health gain, health equity and cost–utility"
} | {
"abstract": "There is new evidence from a very large systematic review and meta-analysis (Navarese et al 2018), that using statins for reducing levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduces the risk of premature death. In this viewpoint article we consider the implications of this new evidence for New Zealand but also examine how the use of statins may be improved for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in this country. We suggest the need to explore such options as fixed-dose combination pills containing statins, three-drug polypills, behind-the-counter dispensing and six-month prescriptions. But in addition to pharmacological prevention of CVD, there is a need for improved population-wide changes to the environment. These include adopting policies to improve tobacco control, the nutrition environment (eg, particularly around sodium), alcohol control and making walking and cycling easier options.",
"corpus_id": 53104834,
"title": "Preventing cardiovascular disease in New Zealand: making better use of statins but also tobacco control, changing the food supply and other strategies."
} | {
"abstract": "BACKGROUND\nAs with many high-income countries, vaccination coverage against human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is not high in New Zealand (NZ) at 47% in school-aged girls for three doses. We estimate the health gains, net-cost and cost-effectiveness of the currently implemented HPV national vaccination programme of vaccination dispersed across schools and primary care, and two alternatives: school-based only (assumed coverage as per Australia: 73%), and mandatory school-based vaccination but with opt-out permitted (coverage 93%). We also generate estimates by social group (sex, ethnic and deprivation group).\n\n\nMETHODS\nA Markov macro-simulation model was developed for 12-year-old girls and boys in 2011, with future health states of: cervical cancer, pre-cancer (CIN I-III), genital warts, and three other HPV-related cancers (oropharyngeal, anal, vulvar cancer). In each state health sector costs, including additional health sector costs from extra life, and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were accumulated.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe current HPV vaccination programme has an estimated cost-effectiveness of NZ$18,800/QALY gained (about US$9700/QALY gained using the OECD's purchasing power parities; 95% UI: US$6900 to $33,700) compared to the status quo in NZ prior to 2008 (no vaccination, screening alone). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of an intensive school-based only programme of girls, compared to the current situation, was US$33,000/QALY gained. Mandatory vaccination appeared least cost-effective (ICER compared to school-based of US$117,000/QALY gained, but with wide 95% uncertainty limits from $56,000 to $220,000). All interventions generated more QALYs per 12-year-old for Māori (indigenous population) and people living in deprived areas (range 5-25% greater QALYs gained).\n\n\nINTERPRETATION\nA more intensive school-only vaccination programme seems warranted. Reductions in vaccine price will greatly improve cost-effectiveness of all options, possibly making a law for mandatory vaccination optimal from a health sector perspective. All interventions could reduce ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in HPV-related disease.",
"corpus_id": 21059113,
"score": 2,
"title": "Cost-effectiveness and equity impacts of three HPV vaccination programmes for school-aged girls in New Zealand."
} |
{
"abstract": "BackgroundMost patients with heart failure are diagnosed and managed in primary care, however, underdiagnosis and undertreatment are common. We assessed whether implementation of a diagnostic-therapeutic strategy improves functionality, health-related quality of life, and uptake of heart failure medication in primary care.Methods/DesignA selective screening study followed by a single-blind cluster randomized trial in primary care. The study population consists of patients aged 65 years or over who presented themselves to the general practitioner in the previous 12 months with shortness of breath on exertion. Patients already known with established heart failure, confirmed by echocardiography, are excluded. Diagnostic investigations include history taking, physical examination, electrocardiography, and serum N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide levels. Only participants with an abnormal electrocardiogram or an N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide level exceeding the exclusionary cutpoint for non-acute onset heart failure (> 15 pmol/L (≈ 125 pg/ml)) will undergo open-access echocardiography. The diagnosis of heart failure (with reduced or preserved ejection fraction) is established by an expert panel consisting of two cardiologists and a general practitioner, according to the criteria of the European Society of Cardiology guidelines.Patients with newly established heart failure are allocated to either the 'care as usual’ group or the 'intervention’ group. Randomization is at the level of the general practitioner. In the intervention group general practitioners receive a single half-day training in heart failure management and the use of a structured up-titration scheme. All participants fill out quality of life questionnaires at baseline and after six months of follow-up. A six-minute walking test will be performed in patients with heart failure. Information on medication and hospitalization rates is extracted from the electronic medical files of the general practitioners.DiscussionThis study will provide information on the prevalence of unrecognized heart failure in elderly with shortness of breath on exertion, and the randomized comparison will reveal whether management based on a half-day training of general practitioners in the practical application of an up-titration scheme results in improvements in functionality, health-related quality of life, and uptake of heart failure medication in heart failure patients compared to care as usual.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01202006",
"corpus_id": 575123,
"title": "Strategy to recognize and initiate treatment of chronic heart failure in primary care (STRETCH): a cluster randomized trial"
} | {
"abstract": "Abstract Background: Heart failure (HF) diagnosis as reported in primary care medical records is not always properly confirmed and could result in over-registration. Objectives: To determine the proportion of registered HF that can be confirmed with information from primary care medical records and to analyse related factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study. The medical records of 595 HF patients attended in two primary healthcare centres in Barcelona (Spain) were revised and validated by a team of experts who classified diagnosis into confirmed, unconfirmed, and misdiagnosis. Variables potentially related to the confirmation of the diagnosis were analysed. The revision of medical records and data collection took place from 15 January to 31 March 2014. Results: Mean (standard deviation) age was 78 (10) years and 58% were women. The diagnosis could be confirmed in 53.6% of patients. Factors associated with a greater probability of having a confirmed diagnosis were age (yearly OR: 0.97, 95%CI: 0.95–0.99), cardiologist follow-up (OR: 3.66, 95%CI: 2.46–5.48), history of ischaemic heart disease (OR: 2.18, 95%CI: 1.36–2.48), atrial fibrillation (OR: 2.01, 95%CI: 1.34–3.03), and prescription of loop diuretics (OR: 3.24, 95%CI: 2.14–4.89). Conclusion: Only in half of the patients labelled as HF in primary care medical records could this diagnosis be further confirmed. Variables regularly registered in clinical practice could help general practitioners identify those patients requiring a revision of their HF diagnosis.",
"corpus_id": 3545737,
"title": "Validation of heart failure diagnosis registered in primary care records in two primary care centres in Barcelona (Spain) and factors related. A cross-sectional study"
} | {
"abstract": "Most oxygen-reducing biocathodes for microbial electrochemical systems (MESs) require energy-intensive aeration of the catholyte, which negates the energy-saving benefits of MESs. To avoid aeration and enhance oxygen-utilization efficiency, columnar activated carbon with half of its surface coated by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE-coated CAC) was fabricated as biocathode material, and its performance was investigated using a tide-type biocathode MES (TBMES). The TBMES with PTFE-coated biocathode achieved a maximum power density of 8.2 ± 0.8 W m-3, which was 39% higher than that of the untreated control (CAC biocathode). The PTFE-coated biocathode was able to store a cumulative total charge (Qm) of (10.8 ± 0.2) × 104 C m-3 during one charge-discharge cycle, whereas the Qm of CAC biocathode was only (6.9 ± 0.1) × 104 C m-3, demonstrating that the oxygen entrapment capability of PTFE-coated biocathode was 54 ± 3.8% higher than that of the control. Internal resistance analysis under both oxygen sufficient and reoxygenation conditions suggested the oxygen entrapped by this surface-hydrophobic biocathode was basically sufficient for cathodic oxygen reduction reaction. The slight difference in cathodic microbial communities of the two biocathodes further indicated that the higher accessibility of oxygen due to the hydrophobic surface was the primary cause for the better performance of the PTFE-coated biocathode, while the higher biocatalytic activity of the cathodic biofilm was a minor factor.",
"corpus_id": 21764935,
"score": 0,
"title": "Enhanced Power Generation of Oxygen-Reducing Biocathode with an Alternating Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Surface."
} |
{
"abstract": "Modern query optimizers of relational database systems embody more than three decades of research and practice in the area of data management and processing. Key advances include algebraic query transformation, intelligent search space pruning, and modular optimizer architectures. Surprisingly, many of these contributions seem to have been overlooked in the emerging field of graph databases so far. In particular, we believe that query optimization based on a general graph algebra and its equivalences can greatly improve on the current state of the art. Although some graph algebras have already been proposed, they have often been developed in a context, in which a relational database system is used as a backend to process graph data. As a consequence, these algebras are typically tightly coupled to the relational algebra, making them unsuitable for native graph databases. While we support the approach of extending the relational algebra, we argue that graph-specific operations should be defined at a higher level, independent of the database backend. In this paper, we introduce such a general graph algebra and corresponding equivalences. We demonstrate how it can be used to optimize Cypher queries in the setting of the Neo4j native graph database.",
"corpus_id": 5363948,
"title": "An Algebra and Equivalences to Transform Graph Patterns in Neo4j"
} | {
"abstract": "The Resource Description Framework (RDF) and SPARQL query language are gaining wide popularity and acceptance. In this paper, we present DREAM, a distributed and adaptive RDF system. As opposed to existing RDF systems, DREAM avoids partitioning RDF datasets and partitions only SPARQL queries. By not partitioning datasets, DREAM offers a general paradigm for different types of pattern matching queries, and entirely averts intermediate data shuffling (only auxiliary data are shuffled). Besides, by partitioning queries, DREAM presents an adaptive scheme, which automatically runs queries on various numbers of machines depending on their complexities. Hence, in essence DREAM combines the advantages of the state-of-the-art centralized and distributed RDF systems, whereby data communication is avoided and cluster resources are aggregated. Likewise, it precludes their disadvantages, wherein system resources are limited and communication overhead is typically hindering. DREAM achieves all its goals via employing a novel graph-based, rule-oriented query planner and a new cost model. We implemented DREAM and conducted comprehensive experiments on a private cluster and on the Amazon EC2 platform. Results show that DREAM can significantly outperform three related popular RDF systems.",
"corpus_id": 5217151,
"title": "DREAM: Distributed RDF Engine with Adaptive Query Planner and Minimal Communication"
} | {
"abstract": "The convergence of mobile communications and handheld computers offers the opportunity to develop technology that will assist individuals and groups to learn anytime, anywhere. We describe the theory-informed design, implementation and evaluation of a handheld learning device. It is intended to support children to capture everyday events such as images, notes and sounds, to relate them to web-based learning resources, to organise these into a visual knowledge map, and to share them with other learners and teachers. A working prototype system, for children aged 9–11, is discussed and evaluated, as an exemplar of personal mobile systems for life-long learning.",
"corpus_id": 207033165,
"score": -1,
"title": "The Design and Implementation of a Mobile Learning Resource"
} |
{
"abstract": "Despite the setbacks from the recent Asian currency crisis, the ascendancy of Asia as an economic centre of world economic activity is likely to continue into the 21st century. A key issue that will shape the role of Asia, and indeed the shape of the world economy in the 21st century, is the economic development of China. To date China has successfully weathered the currency storm in Asia and continues on a program of economic reform. If anything, the problems of Japan and Korea provide powerful lessons for other countries undergoing rapid economic growth and structural change. These lessons include the importance of a well developed financial sector with lending and investment decisions based on market signals rather than government directives. Whether China can further integrate smoothly into global markets and sustain the fast growth of the last few decades will be a crucial development in the world economy. In this paper, we explore the impacts of continued Chinese economic reform with a focus on the role of international financial flows both in the adjustment within China as well as in the transmission of Chinese reforms to the rest of the world.",
"corpus_id": 152626538,
"title": "The Global Economic Impacts of Trade and Financial Reform in China"
} | {
"abstract": "While China's open-door policy has benefited the world economy, there are anxieties, both in China and abroad, about increased competition and the cost of dramatic adjustments. This paper attempts to analyse the implications of China's trade reform for structural change and welfare in China and the rest of the world. Three sets of experiments are implemented with the GATP model. The study finds that China is the biggest gainer from its own liberalization, its labour-intensive sector will expand but other sectors, including agriculture will contract. The structural adjustment for other countries is likely to be concentrated on the clothing sector. But the economies which experience the biggest adjustments are also the biggest gainers. Multilateral trade liberalization, such as the APEC free trade process, increases the gain both for the rest of the world and for China.",
"corpus_id": 154930829,
"title": "China's Trade Liberalization and Structural Adjustments for the World Economy"
} | {
"abstract": "\n The author reviews demographic changes that have occurred during the 1980s in the United States. Consideration is given to the demographic impacts of immigration, inner city decline, and demographic aging. The focus is on the local impact of such changes.\n",
"corpus_id": 39689291,
"score": 1,
"title": "How we spent the 1980s: a pre-census look at a changing America."
} |
{
"abstract": "GABAA receptors are the main inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors in the brain and are targets for numerous clinically important drugs such as benzodiazepines, anxiolytics and anesthetics. We previously identified novel ligands of the classical benzodiazepine binding pocket in α1β2γ2 GABAA receptors using an experiment-guided virtual screening (EGVS) method. This screen also identified novel ligands for intramembrane low affinity diazepam site(s). In the current study we have further characterized compounds 31 and 132 identified with EGVS as well as 4-O-methylhonokiol. We investigated the site of action of these compounds in α1β2γ2 GABAA receptors expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes using voltage-clamp electrophysiology combined with a benzodiazepine site antagonist and transmembrane domain mutations. All three compounds act mainly through the two β+/α− subunit transmembrane interfaces of the GABAA receptors. We then used concatenated receptors to dissect the involvement of individual β+/α− interfaces. We further demonstrated that these compounds have anesthetic activity in a small aquatic animal model, Xenopus laevis tadpoles. The newly identified compounds may serve as scaffolds for the development of novel anesthetics.",
"corpus_id": 553358,
"title": "Novel positive allosteric modulators of GABAA receptors with anesthetic activity"
} | {
"abstract": "General anesthetics, including etomidate, act by binding to and enhancing the function of GABA type A receptors (GABAARs), which mediate inhibitory neurotransmission in the brain. Here, we used a radiolabeled, photoreactive etomidate analog ([3H]azietomidate), which retains anesthetic potency in vivo and enhances GABAAR function in vitro, to identify directly, for the first time, amino acids that contribute to a GABAAR anesthetic binding site. For GABAARs purified by affinity chromatography from detergent extracts of bovine cortex, [3H]azietomidate photoincorporation was increased by GABA and inhibited by etomidate in a concentration-dependent manner (IC50 = 30 μm). Protein microsequencing of fragments isolated from proteolytic digests established photolabeling of two residues: one within the αM1 transmembrane helix at α1Met-236 (and/or the homologous methionines in α2,3,5), not previously implicated in etomidate function, and one within the βM3 transmembrane helix at β3Met-286 (and/or the homologous methionines in β1,2), an etomidate sensitivity determinant. The pharmacological specificity of labeling indicates that these methionines contribute to a single binding pocket for etomidate located in the transmembrane domain at the interface between β and α subunits, in what is predicted by structural models based on homology with the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor to be a water-filled pocket ∼50 Å below the GABA binding site. The localization of the etomidate binding site to an intersubunit, not an intrasubunit, binding pocket is a novel conclusion that suggests more generally that the localization of drug binding sites to subunit interfaces may be a feature not only for GABA and benzodiazepines but also for etomidate and other intravenous and volatile anesthetics.",
"corpus_id": 2068171,
"title": "Identification of a GABAA Receptor Anesthetic Binding Site at Subunit Interfaces by Photolabeling with an Etomidate Analog"
} | {
"abstract": "The development of palatable baits for the suppresion of pest termites relies on combining phagostimulants with slow-acting toxicants that termite foragers carry back to the colony and distribute to nest-mates. In the present study the palatability and toxic effects of three compounds, ampicillin, tetracycline and urea to the subterranean termites Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) and R. virginicus (Banks) were investigated. 1.0% solutions (w/v) of ampicillin and tetracycline applied to filter paper were unpalatable to termites in choice tests, and these concentrations depressed termite feeding, survivorship, individual biomass, and numbers of gut protozoa in no-choice tests. In contrast, urea solutions of 0.1%, 1.0% and 5.0% (w/v) were palatable to termites in choice tests, but 5.0% urea solutions depressed termite survivorship and protozoan numbers in no-choice tests. Addition of urea to tetra- cycline solutions resulted in increased palatability and decreased termite survivorship over tetracycline administered alone. The toxic effects in combination with its palatability to Reticulitermes spp. indicate that urea may be a promising candidate for termite control programmes.",
"corpus_id": 86783048,
"score": 1,
"title": "Ampicillin, tetracycline and urea as protozoicides for symbionts of Reticulitermes flavipes and R. virginicus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)"
} |
{
"abstract": "ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of perioperative factors and their impact on clinical and functional outcomes in Brazilian patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). METHODS: We performed a prospective study with 49 consecutive AIS patients who underwent spine fusion and had a minimum 2 year follow-up. Clinical and radiographic data were correlated to SRS-30 scores in order to predict postoperative results. RESULTS: There was a negative association between patient age at the time of surgery and back pain. We also observed higher scores in the \"satisfaction\" domain in patients who underwent surgery after 15 years of age (p < 0.05). The average SRS-30 \"mental health\" score was significantly higher in males than in females (p= 0.035). Patients treated with braces had worse results than those who did not use them (p= 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Posterior spine fusion led to improvement of all domains of the SRS-30 questionnaire. Clinical results were influenced by age, sex and the use of braces prior to surgery. There was no correlation between curve correction and presence of perioperative complications. Level of Evidence IV, Case Series.",
"corpus_id": 61610,
"title": "Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: surgical treatment and quality of life"
} | {
"abstract": "PurposeTo test the responsiveness of the EuroQoL 5-dimension (EQ-5D) utility scores for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).MethodsA baseline sample of 227 AIS patients was recruited between August and October 2015, and was surveyed prospectively to 9–12 months follow-up. EQ-5D-5L utility scores were derived using a two-step approach: (1) cross-walking from five-level responses to three-level responses and (2) applying the EQ-5D-3L Chinese population value set. An anchor approach was adopted to assess the responsiveness of EQ-5D. Effect size statistics (standardized effect size and standardized response mean) and independent t test were used to assess the responsiveness, as well as to analyze the ability of measures to detect score changes with global health condition changes or discriminate between the worsened and unchanged/improved groups.ResultsApproximately two-thirds of follow-up patients (64.2%) reported no change in global health condition based on the self-reported health anchor, whilst 4.6 and 31.3% of patients rated worse and better in current health condition compared to baseline, respectively. In the subgroup where health worsened, EQ-5D utility scores were responsive to detect negative changes. EQ-5D utility scores had slight improvement in the group where health improved, despite a high mean score of 0.92 at baseline. Neither statistical significance nor moderate–large effect size was observed in mean changes among unchanged group. Responsiveness property of the EQ-5D utility score was generally satisfactory with respect to each health condition group.ConclusionsEQ-5D is found to be able to capture positive changes, and responsive in detecting important clinical changes in the improved group of this AIS population.",
"corpus_id": 3356866,
"title": "Responsiveness of the EuroQoL 5-dimension (EQ-5D) in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis"
} | {
"abstract": "Airway pressure during high-frequency jet ventilation (HFJV) reflects safety, ventilator performance, and gas exchange. The value of airway pressure as a monitoring and control variable for predicting the effectiveness of gas exchange was examined in 2 studies using healthy dogs. In the first study, HFJV was delivered to the airway via an extra lumen in the wall of an endotracheal tube, at a frequency of 150 cycle/min and 30% inspira-tory time. Airway pressures (peak, mean, trough) were measured at various locations, from 5 cm below to 30 cm above the jet port. Pressures measured above the jet were misleading, but the proper measurement distance below the jet remains uncertain. The second study used the same ventilator settings but varied the airway pressure difference between peak and end-expiratory pressures (2, 4, or 6 cm H2O), and either the mean airway pressure (6 or 10 cm H2O) or the positive end-expiratory pressure (0, 5, 10, or 15 cm H2O). The airway pressure difference correlated strongly with efficiency of gas exchange for both CO2 elimination and oxygenation. Mean and end-expiratory pressures showed little influence over moderate ranges, but use of 15 cm H2O of PEEP decreased efficiency of both CO2 elimination and oxygenation, presumably due to increased dead space because of lung overdistension. We conclude that the airway pressure difference, measured as far distal in the airway as is safe and practical, can be useful for monitoring and controlling HFJV.",
"corpus_id": 25598145,
"score": 1,
"title": "Airway pressure as a measure of gas exchange during high‐frequency jet ventilation"
} |
{
"abstract": "This paper describes the development of a hybrid tool for a semi-automated process for validation of treebank annotation at various levels. The tool is developed for error detection at the part-of-speech, chunk and dependency levels of a Hindi treebank, currently under development. The tool aims to identify as many errors as possible at these levels to achieve consistency in the task of annotation. Consistency in treebank annotation is a must for making data as error-free as possible and for providing quality assurance. The tool is aimed at ensuring consistency and to make manual validation cost effective. We discuss a rule based and a hybrid approach (statistical methods combined with rule-based methods) by which a high-recall system can be developed and used to identify errors in the treebank. We report some results of using the tool on a sample of data extracted from the Hindi treebank. We also argue how the tool can prove useful in improving the annotation guidelines which would in turn, better the quality of annotation in subsequent iterations.",
"corpus_id": 1841134,
"title": "A High Recall Error Identification Tool for Hindi Treebank Validation"
} | {
"abstract": "In this paper we explore the effect of selftraining on Hindi dependency parsing. We consider a state-of-the-art Hindi dependency parser and apply self-training by using a large raw corpus. We consider two types of raw corpus, one from same domain as of training and testing data and the other from different domain. We also do an experiment, where we add small gold-standard data to the training set. Comparing these experiments, we show the impact of adding small, but gold-standard data to training data versus large, but automatically parsed data on Hindi parser.",
"corpus_id": 11187167,
"title": "Exploring self training for Hindi dependency parsing"
} | {
"abstract": "After some theoretical discussion on the issue of representativity of a corpus, this paper presents a simple yet very efficient technique serving for (semi-) automatic detection of those positions in a part-of-speech tagged corpus where an error is to be suspected. The approach is based on the idea of learning and application of \"invalid bigrams\", i.e. on the search for pairs of adjacent tags which constitute an incorrect configuration in a text of a particular language (in English, e.g., the bigram ARTICLE - VERB). Further, the paper describes the generalization of the \"invalid bigrams\" into \"extended invalid bigrams of length n\", for any natural n, which provides a powerful tool for error detection in a corpus. The approach is illustrated by English, German and Czech examples.",
"corpus_id": 6958905,
"score": 2,
"title": "Achieving an Almost Correct PoS-Tagged Corpus"
} |
{
"abstract": "The importance of services and the international trade in services is growing systematically. There are some reasons for that, especially the rapid development of IT technologies. This increase in the international trade in services is a global phenomenon, however there are some other specific issues, other than economic or technological, which might influence the trade in services in particular countries. As for the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe such a factor could be the accession to the European Union (EU). The objective of the paper is to analyse the export specialization of the Visegrad countries in the international trade in services and how it changed over seven years after the EU accession. The service sector comprises of a variety of highly heterogeneous economic activities and the diversity of services is also reflected in the international trade of particular countries. Generally, the trade theories deal with trade of goods, but there are some attempts already to apply these theories for services. To find out the export specialization based on the comparative advantage in particular services, the main categories of services are analysed based on the adjusted RCA index assumptions. The analysis prepared in the paper is based on the balance of payment statistics provided by the WTO. The article is concluded by discussing the questions about the export specialization of particular countries and how it changed after the accession to the EU.",
"corpus_id": 152654388,
"title": "Export specialization in services of the Visegrad countries"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper has been supported by the New National Excellence Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities.",
"corpus_id": 73702833,
"title": "Determinants of Economic Growth in V4 Countries and Romania"
} | {
"abstract": "This paper presents a framework for analysing spatial aspects of environmental policies in the regulation of trans-boundary externalities. A spatial price equilibrium model for two regions is constructed, where interactions between these regions can occur via trade and transport, via mutual environmental spill-overs due to the externality that arises from production, and via tax competition when the regions do not behave cooperatively. Explicit attention is also given to the additional complications arising from emissions caused by the endogenous transport flows. Acknowledgement This research was carried out within the Dutch NRP -II project on “Policy Instruments for Energy Efficiency Improvement”; nr. 953215. Financial support by the Dutch Scientific Organization NWO is gratefully acknowledged.",
"corpus_id": 9721928,
"score": 1,
"title": "A Spatial Price Equilibrium Approach"
} |
{
"abstract": "This study investigated the recovery of renal proximal tubule cellular (RPTC) functions following oxidant-induced sublethal injury. tert-Butylhydroperoxide (TBHP) treatment resulted in 24% cell death and loss 4 h following the exposure. The remaining sublethally injured RPTC proliferated, and monolayer DNA content returned to control values on day 4 following TBHP exposure. Basal oxygen consumption (Qo2) and ATP content in sublethally injured RPTC were decreased 64 and 63%, respectively, at 4 h and returned to control values on day 6. Net lactate consumption decreased 71% at 4 h and returned to control values on day 4. In contrast, net glutamine consumption increased 2.7-fold at 4 h and returned to control values on day 6. Ouabain-sensitive Qo2, Na(+)-K(+)-adenosinetriphosphatase (Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase) activity, and Na(+)-coupled glucose transport were inhibited 77, 88, and 83%, respectively, at 4 h and recovered to control values on day 6. These data show that 1) mitochondrial function, Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity, active Na+ transport, and Na(+)-coupled glucose transport are decreased in sublethally injured RPTC following oxidant exposure and are repaired over time; 2) monolayer regeneration precedes the recovery of mitochondrial and transport functions, and 3) sublethal injury and subsequent regeneration are associated with alterations in metabolic substrate utilization. These results suggest that oxidant-induced sublethal injury to RPTC may contribute to renal dysfunction and that RPTC can repair and regain cellular functions following oxidant injury.",
"corpus_id": 692507,
"title": "Recovery of cellular functions following oxidant injury."
} | {
"abstract": "Ammonia has been reported to be toxic and inhibitory for mammalian cell cultures for many years. Reduction of growth rates and maximal cell densities in batch cultures, changes in metabolic rates, perturbation of protein processing and virus replication have been reported. However, cellular mechanisms of ammonia toxicity are still the subject of controversy and are presented here. The physical and chemical characteristics of ammonia and ammonium are important, with the former capable of readily diffusing across cellular membranes and the latter competing with other cations for active transport by means of carrier proteins. The main source of the ammonia which accumulates in cell cultures is glutamine, which plays an important role in the metabolism of rapidly growing cells. Strategies to overcome toxic ammonia accumulation include substitution of glutamine by glutamate or other amino acids, nutrient control, i.e., controlled addition of glutamine at low concentrations, or removal of ammonia or ammonium from the culture medium by means of ion-exchange resins, ion-exchange membranes, gas-permeable membranes or electrodialysis.",
"corpus_id": 5742058,
"title": "The importance of ammonia in mammalian cell culture."
} | {
"abstract": "In vivo studies with L-[13N]glutamate in the Walker 256 carcinosarcoma implanted under the renal capsule of female Sprague-Dawley rats demonstrate that uptake of glutamate and the rate of incorporation of the nitrogen label from this amino acid into metabolites is slower in the tumor than in nontumorous kidney tissue. Glutamate dehydrogenase, glutaminase, and alanine aminotransferase activities are significantly lower within the tumor than within the adjoining kidney. However, the tumor expresses high levels of aspartate aminotransferase, attesting to the importance of this enzyme in the metabolism of glutamate. Indeed, high performance liquid chromatographic analysis showed that the principal metabolic fate of label derived from L-[13N]glutamate in the tumor is incorporation into aspartate. Measurement of specific activity ratios of glutamate to aspartate shows that the transfer of nitrogen from glutamate to aspartate is rapid and that equilibration of label among components of the aspartate aminotransferase reaction is attained within minutes after tumor uptake. Analyses of the nontumorous portion of the implanted kidney also showed that aspartate is the major recipient of glutamate nitrogen. However, high performance liquid chromatographic analyses of deproteinized tissue revealed that glutamine and ammonia are also significant 13N-labeled metabolites formed from L-[13N]glutamate within the kidney. Proportionately lower amounts of these labeled metabolites were found in the tumor.",
"corpus_id": 94808,
"score": 2,
"title": "Short-term metabolic fate of L-[13N]glutamate in the Walker 256 carcinosarcoma in vivo."
} |
{
"abstract": "Approaches to stimulate remyelination may lead to recovery from demyelinating injuries and protect axons. One such strategy is the activation of immune cells with clinically used medications, since a properly directed inflammatory response can have healing properties through mechanisms such as the provision of growth factors and the removal of cellular debris. We previously reported that the antifungal medication amphotericin B is an activator of circulating monocytes, and their tissue-infiltrated counterparts and macrophages, and of microglia within the CNS. Here, we describe that amphotericin B activates these cells through engaging MyD88/TRIF signaling. When mice were subjected to lysolecithin-induced demyelination of the spinal cord, systemic injections of nontoxic doses of amphotericin B and another activator, macrophage colony-stimulating factor (MCSF), further elevated the representation of microglia/macrophages at the site of injury. Treatment with amphotericin B, particularly in combination with MCSF, increased the number of oligodendrocyte precursor cells and promoted remyelination within lesions; these pro-regenerative effects were mitigated in mice treated with clodronate liposomes to reduce circulating monocytes and tissue-infiltrated macrophages. Our results have identified candidates among currently used medications as potential therapies for the repair of myelin.",
"corpus_id": 1130438,
"title": "Stimulation of Monocytes, Macrophages, and Microglia by Amphotericin B and Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor Promotes Remyelination"
} | {
"abstract": "Aging impairs regenerative processes including remyelination, the synthesis of a new myelin sheath. Microglia and other infiltrating myeloid cells such as macrophages are essential for remyelination through mechanisms that include the clearance of inhibitory molecules within the lesion. Prior studies have shown that the quantity of myeloid cells and the clearance of inhibitory myelin debris are deficient in aging, contributing to the decline in remyelination efficiency with senescence. It is unknown, however, whether the impaired clearance of debris is simply the result of the reduced number of phagocytes or if the dynamic activity of myeloid cells within the demyelinating plaque also declines with aging and this question is relevant to the proper design of therapeutics to mobilize myeloid cells for repair. Herein, we describe a high-resolution multiphoton ex vivo live imaging protocol that visualizes individual myelinated/demyelinated axons and lipid-containing myeloid cells to investigate the demyelinated lesion of aging female mice. We found that aging lesions have fewer myeloid cells and that these have reduced phagocytosis of myelin. Although the myeloid cells are actively migratory within the lesion of young mice and have protrusions that seem to survey the environment, this motility and surveillance is significantly reduced in aging mice. Our results emphasize the necessity of not only increasing the number of phagocytes, but also enhancing their activity once they are within demyelinated lesions. The high-resolution live imaging of demyelinated lesions can serve as a platform with which to discover pharmacological agents that rejuvenate intralesional remodeling that promotes the repair of plaques. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The repair of myelin after injury depends on myeloid cells that clear debris and release growth factors. As organisms age, remyelination becomes less efficient correspondent with fewer myeloid cells that populate the lesions. It is unknown whether the dynamic activity of cells within lesions is also altered with age. Herein, using high-resolution multiphoton ex vivo live imaging with several novel features, we report that myeloid cells within demyelinated lesions of aging mice have reduced motility, surveillance, and phagocytic activity, suggesting an intralesional impairment that may contribute to the age-related decline in remyelination efficiency. Medications to stimulate deficient aging myeloid cells should not only increase their representation, but also enter into lesions to stimulate their activity.",
"corpus_id": 3476591,
"title": "Deficient Surveillance and Phagocytic Activity of Myeloid Cells Within Demyelinated Lesions in Aging Mice Visualized by Ex Vivo Live Multiphoton Imaging"
} | {
"abstract": "Understanding the early determinants of food intake, in particular the role of food sensory quality, is a necessary step to improve the prevention of unhealthy food habits. However, the extent to which food intake varies according to salt, fat and sugar content is imperfectly known. The present study aimed at evaluating whether toddler food intake varied during lunches or snacks in which salt, fat or sugar contents had been modified in common foods. Seventy-four children (30 (se 0·5) months old) participated in the study in their usual day-care centres. Every other week, they were served lunches composed, among other items, of green beans and pasta with varying salt (0, 0·6 and 1·2 % added salt) or fat (0, 2·5 and 5 % added butter) levels and afternoon snacks composed of fruit purée varying in sugar level (0, 5 and 10 % added sugar). During each meal, children could eat as much as they wanted from the target foods. Each food was weighed before and after the meal. Salt level had a positive impact on the intake of the target foods. On the contrary, no impact of added fat or added sugar levels was observed. This implies that fat and sugar addition could be avoided in foods for children without having an impact on palatability, allowing the energy density of children's diet to be limited. Salt addition should be limited, but its suppression in vegetables, whose intake is to be promoted, should be considered cautiously.",
"corpus_id": 1229467,
"score": 1,
"title": "The impact of salt, fat and sugar levels on toddler food intake"
} |
{
"abstract": "With increasing design complexity System on Chip (SoC) verification is becoming a more and more important and challenging aspect of the overall development process. The Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) is thereby a common solution to this problem; although it still keeps some problems unsolved. In this panel leading experts from industry (both users and vendors) and academy will discuss the future of SoC verification methodology.",
"corpus_id": 888439,
"title": "Panel: Future SoC verification methodology: UVM evolution or revolution?"
} | {
"abstract": "A very important class of bugs that occurs in VLSI projects, and especially in System on Chip (SoC) type projects, are bugs caused by two or more processes on chip trying to access a shared resource simultaneously. These kinds of bugs are both hard to find and very likely have the potential to cause a respin if not found since it is very hard to work around them in software (SW). In this paper we present a framework to define such conflict cases and a tool for automatically generating test cases from this definition. We have implemented this framework and tool, generated test suites, and simulated them on the Design Under Verification. Our method immediately proved its effectiveness by catching an unknown problem in a project which has already established a reasonable test suite regression that is simulated periodically.",
"corpus_id": 23521687,
"title": "A method for hunting bugs that occur due to system conflicts"
} | {
"abstract": "This work presents a new framework for Privacy-Preserving Investment systems in a distributed model. In this model, independent investors can transfer funds to independent projects, in the same way as it works on crowdfunding platforms. The framework protects the investors’ single payments from being detected (by any other party), only the sums of each investor’s payments are revealed (e.g. to the system). Likewise, the projects’ single incoming payments are concealed and only the final sums of the incoming payments for every project are revealed. In this way, no other party than the investor (not even the system administration) can detect how much she paid to any single project. Though it is still possible to confidentially exchange any part of an investment between any pair of investors, such that market liquidity is unaffected by the system. On top, our framework allows a privacy-preserving return of a multiple of all the held investments (e.g. interest payments or dividends) to the indivdual investors while still revealing nothing else than the sum of all returns for every investor. We introduce Investcoin as practicable instantiation for this framework. It is a proper combination of three cryptographic protocols, namely a Private Stream Aggregation scheme, a Commitment scheme and a Range test. The security of the three protocols is based on the Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) assumption. Thus, by a composition theorem, the security of Investcoin is also based on the DDH assumption. Furthermore, we provide a simple decentralised key generation protocol for Investcoin that supports dynamic join, leave and fault-tolarance of investors and moreover achieves some security guarantees against malicious investors.",
"corpus_id": 9064045,
"score": 1,
"title": "A Distributed Investment Encryption Scheme: Investcoin"
} |
{
"abstract": "Spectral signatures are obtained for the movement of protons in cold water clusters The structure and properties of the proton in water are of fundamental importance in many areas of chemistry and biology. The high mobility of the proton in an aqueous solution is understood in terms of its “hopping” between neighboring water molecules, as suggested by the two-century-old Grotthuss mechanism. The barrier for this process intimately depends on the proton's surrounding environment, which is manifested by the connectivity of the immediate hydrogen-bonding network as well as its dynamics caused by thermal fluctuations. On page 1131 of this issue, Wolke et al. (1) shed new light on the role that the proton's water neighbors play toward facilitating positive charge translocation within a hydrogen-bonded network in a cold water cluster.",
"corpus_id": 5183870,
"title": "Spying on the neighbors' pool"
} | {
"abstract": "We report extensive benchmark CCSD(T) Complete Basis Set (CBS) estimates of the binding energies, structures, and harmonic frequencies of H3O+(H2O) n clusters, n = 0-5, including all currently known low-lying energy isomers. These are used to test a previously reported many-body (up to 3-body interactions) CCSD(T)-based potential energy surface (PES) for the hydrated proton. A new 4-body term for the hydronium-water-water-water interactions is introduced. This term is aimed at refining the relative energies of isomers of the H3O+(H2O) n, n = 4, 5 clusters. The test results of the revised PES against the benchmark demonstrate the high accuracy of the revised PES.",
"corpus_id": 51985578,
"title": "Benchmark Electronic Structure Calculations for H3O+(H2O) n, n = 0-5, Clusters and Tests of an Existing 1,2,3-Body Potential Energy Surface with a New 4-Body Correction."
} | {
"abstract": "The authors propose a simulated maximum likelihood estimation method for the random coefficient logit model using aggregate data, accounting for heterogeneity and endogeneity. The method allows for two sources of randomness in observed market shares: unobserved product characteristics and sampling error. Because of the latter, the method is suitable when sample sizes underlying the shares are finite. In contrast, Berry, Levinsohn and Pakes's commonly used approach assumes that observed shares have no sampling error. The method can be viewed as a generalization of Villas-Boas and Winer's approach and is closely related to Petrin and Train's “control function” approach. The authors show that the proposed method provides unbiased and efficient estimates of demand parameters. They also obtain endogeneity test statistics as a by-product, including the direction of endogeneity bias. The model can be extended to incorporate Markov regime-switching dynamics in parameters and is open to other extensions based on maximum likelihood. The benefits of the proposed approach are achieved by assuming normality of the unobserved demand attributes, an assumption that imposes constraints on the types of pricing behaviors that are accommodated. However, the authors find in simulations that demand estimates are fairly robust to violations of these assumptions.",
"corpus_id": 154547191,
"score": 0,
"title": "Simulated Maximum Likelihood Estimator for the Random Coefficient Logit Model Using Aggregate Data"
} |
{
"abstract": "On the basis of DNA self-assembly, a thermal responsive polymer polypropylene oxide (PPO) is evenly inserted into a rigid 3D DNA network for the study of single molecular self-collapsing process. At low temperature, PPO is hydrophilic and dispersed uniformly in the network; when elevating temperature, PPO becomes hydrophobic but can only collapse on itself because of the fixation and separation of DNA rigid network. The process has been characterized by rheological test and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering test. It is also demonstrated that this self-collapsing process is reversible and it is believed that this strategy could provide a new tool to study the nucleation-growing process of block copolymers.",
"corpus_id": 3751805,
"title": "Self-Collapsing of Single Molecular Poly-Propylene Oxide (PPO) in a 3D DNA Network."
} | {
"abstract": "DNA exhibits many attractive properties, such as programmability, precise self-assembly, sequence-coded biomedical functions, and good biocompatibility; therefore, DNA has been used extensively as a building block to construct novel nanomaterials. Recently, studies on oligonucleotide–polymer conjugates (OPCs) have attracted increasing attention. As hybrid molecules, OPCs exhibit novel properties, e.g., sophisticated self-assembly behaviors, which are distinct from the simple combination of the functions of DNA and polymer, making OPCs interesting and useful. The synthesis and applications of OPCs are highly dependent on the choice of the polymer block, but a systematic summary of OPCs based on their molecular structures is still lacking. In order to design OPCs for further applications, it is necessary to thoroughly understand the structure–function relationship of OPCs. In this review, we carefully categorize recently developed OPCs by the structures of the polymer blocks, and discuss the synthesis, purification, and applications for each category. Finally, we will comment on future prospects for OPCs.",
"corpus_id": 211127653,
"title": "Oligonucleotide–Polymer Conjugates: From Molecular Basics to Practical Application"
} | {
"abstract": "As an effective strategy for improving the productivity of the construction industry, prefabricated construction has attracted concerns worldwide. This study investigated the life-cycle energy use of prefabricated components and the corresponding effect on the total embodied energy use for a number of real building projects. Result showed that the life-cycle energy use of prefabricated components ranged from 7.33 GJ/m3 for precast staircase to 13.34 GJ/m3 for precast form. The recycling process could achieve 16%–24% energy reduction. This study also found that apart from reusability, energy savings are also obtained from waste reduction and high quality control, saving 4%–14% of the total life-cycle energy consumption. All these advantages can be regarded as important environment friendly strategies provided by precast construction. The linear regression analysis indicated that the average increment in energy use was nearly linearly correlated with prefabrication rate. Precast facade and form are identified as energy-intensive components compared with the conventional construction method. Therefore, the challenge lies in improving the integrality and quality of the prefabrication technique while reducing its dependence on energy-intensive materials. Besides, attention should be focused on improving the maturity of the precast market to avoid additional energy consumption during prophase investigation.",
"corpus_id": 6483894,
"score": 1,
"title": "Life-cycle energy analysis of prefabricated building components: an input–output-based hybrid model"
} |
{
"abstract": "Noise from commercial high-bypass ratio turbofan engines is generated by turbulent mixing of the hot jet exhaust, fan stream, and ambient air. Serrated aerodynamic devices, known as chevrons, along the trailing edges of a jet engine primary and secondary exhaust nozzle have been shown to reduce jet noise at takeoff and shock-cell noise at cruise conditions. Their optimum shape is a finely tuned compromise between noise-benefit and thrust-loss. The design of a full scale Variable Geometry Chevron (VGC) fan-nozzle incorporating Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators is described in a companion paper. This paper describes the development and testing of a proportional-integral control system that regulates the heating of the SMA actuators to control the VGC s tip immersion. The VGC and control system were tested under representative flow conditions in Boeing s Nozzle Test Facility (NTF). Results from the NTF test which demonstrate controllable immersion of the VGC are described. The paper also describes the correlation between strains and temperatures on the chevron with a photogrammetric measurement of the chevron's tip immersion.",
"corpus_id": 8614468,
"title": "Feedback Control of a Morphing Chevron for Takeoff and Cruise Noise Reduction"
} | {
"abstract": "The past decade has seen an increase in the use of smart materials in actuator design, notably for inclusion in active structures such as noise-reducing paneling or vibration-controlled buildings. Materials such as shape memory alloys (SMAs), piezoceramics, magnetostrictives and others all offer exciting new actuation possibilities. However, all of these materials present an interesting control challenge due to their nonlinear hysteretic behavior in some regimes. We look at the energy properties of the Preisach hysteresis model, widely regarded as the most general hysteresis model available for the representation of classes of hysteretic systems. We consider the ideas of energy storage and minimum energy states of the Preisach model, and derive a passivity property of the model. Passivity is useful in controller design, and experimental results are included showing control of a differential shape memory alloy actuator using a passivity-based rate controller.",
"corpus_id": 6413222,
"title": "Passivity-based stability and control of hysteresis in smart actuators"
} | {
"abstract": "Thickness vibrations of a piezoelectric plate rotating at a constant angular velocity about its normal are studied using the equations of linear piezoelectricity. The transcendental equation that determines the resonant frequencies is derived for materials with general anisotropy and solved for specific materials of polarized ceramics and rotated Y-cut quartz. The results are useful in the understanding and analysis of plate piezoelectric gyroscopes.",
"corpus_id": 119567233,
"score": 1,
"title": "Thickness vibrations of rotating piezoelectric plates"
} |
{
"abstract": "The emphasis given to learning in today’s society presents challenges not only to professional communities and educational institutions, but also to individual practitioners. The contemporary notions of learning as ‘lifelong’ and ‘life-wide’ position learning as a key activity over the lifespan as well as in life as a whole, including private and leisure activities.",
"corpus_id": 153117491,
"title": "SELF-TECHNOLOGIES IN WORK-BASED LEARNING"
} | {
"abstract": "Introduction: reframing political thought 1. Governing 2. Freedom 3. The social 4. Advanced liberalism 5. Community 6. Numbers 7. Control Conclusion: beyond government.",
"corpus_id": 54843082,
"title": "Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought"
} | {
"abstract": "A personal computer-based aviation training device (PCATD) was used to train 63 ab initio flight students. Thirty-nine foreign airline trainees and 24 students from the U.S. participated in approximately 10 hours of basic VFR training between the completion of their ground school course work and flight lessons. All PCATD training followed a strict syllabus and was instructor-led. After the completion of their PCATD training, students followed the traditional flight lesson syllabus and training performance was tracked up to private pilot certification. Dual flight hours prior to the first solo flight, landings prior to the first solo flight, dual flight hours between the first solo flight and private certification, and landings between the first solo flight and private certification provided dependent variables for this study. The results suggest that the PCATD training was effective in improving training performance for some students. Those most influenced were students who traditionally require substantially more training prior to solo and private certification than that called for by the syllabus used at the facility where this study was conducted. Results also indicate that, as expected, the PCATD exposure had the greatest impact on training performance prior to solo.",
"corpus_id": 109593782,
"score": 1,
"title": "The Use of a Personal Computer-Based Aviation Training Device in Ab Initio Flight Training"
} |
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